Beijing – Iron ore futures prices gained on Wednesday as lingering expectations of fresh Chinese economic stimulus outweighed concerns over the escalation of trade tensions between the United States and China.
The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trade 0.43% higher at 812 yuan ($111.76) a metric ton. It touched its highest since Oct. 8 at 816.5 yuan a ton earlier in the session.
The benchmark January iron ore on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.37% to $105.5 a ton, as of 0730 GMT, the highest level since Nov. 8.
Hopes of more fiscal stimulus from the upcoming Central Economic Work Conference in top consumer China helped prices of the key steelmaking ingredient shrug off earlier losses, driven by escalating trade tensions in the world’s two-largest economies.
“The market is holding high expectations for incremental stimulus … domestic ore demand remains resilient,” analysts at Sinosteel Futures said in a note.
China on Tuesday banned exports of critical minerals gallium, germanium and antimony, which have widespread military applications, to the United States, a day after Washington’s latest crackdown on China’s chip sector.
But prospects of growing overseas supply limited the upside potential for prices, according to analysts.
Vale on Tuesday estimated that it would produce between 325 million and 335 million tons of iron ore in 2025, compared with about 328 million tons this year.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE tumbled, with coking coal and coke down 2.85% and 2.04%, respectively.
“Abundant supply and a lack of market confidence weighed on prices of coking coal and coke,” analysts at Galaxy Futures said in a note.
($1 = 7.2656 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Amy Lv and Colleen Howe and Varun H K and Sonia Cheema)
