China: Iron ore futures rangebound on foggy market signals

Iron ore futures on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) remained largely stable on 13 Aug’21 compared to the last trading session, primarily due to market volatility amidst ample supply and low demand in the backdrop of steel production cuts in China. Steel futures, however, remained volatile with re-bar futures moving higher while HRC futures edged lower. Closing prices of the most-traded ferrous futures contracts:

• DCE iron ore futures Jan’22 contract closed at RMB 841.5/t ($) (+RMB 3.5)
• SGX iron ore futures Sept contract closed at $159.1/t (-1)
• SHFE rebar futures Jan’22 Oct contract closed at RMB 5,482/t ($) (+RMB 40)
• SHFE HRC futures Oct contract closed at RMB 5,765/t ($) (-RMB 12)