Iron ore futures drop as China launches probe into spot market

Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) plunged by over 6.8% in today’s trading session as China stepped up investigations into the iron ore spot market, as per latest reports. Steel futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) fell 3.3%. Seasonal slowdown in construction steel demand weighed on sentiments. Closing prices of the most-active futures contracts on 21 Jun’21:

• DCE iron ore futures Sept’21 contract closed at RMB 1,121/t ($173) (-RMB 82)
• SGX iron ore futures Jul contract closed at $197.7/t (-8.9)
• SHFE rebar futures Oct contract closed at RMB 4,889/t ($756) (- RMB 172)
• SHFE HRC futures Oct contract closed at RMB 5,170/t ($800) (-RMB 177)