By Michele Pek
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Iron ore futures prices faltered on Tuesday, weighed down by a recovery in iron ore shipments and increasing levies and legislations on Chinese steel exports.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 1.14% lower at 821.5 yuan ($113.27) a metric ton as of 0246 GMT.
The benchmark March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 1.49% lower at $106.75 a ton.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is introducing a legislation to address the impact of Chinese-supported companies moving portions of their production to other countries to circumvent American duties.
The legislation would also toughen anti-dumping rules.
While China exports only tiny volumes of steel to the U.S., it is responsible for much of the world’s excess steel capacity, according to the U.S.
Meanwhile, Vietnam will impose a temporary anti-dumping levy on some steel products from China, according to a trade ministry document seen by Reuters.
This comes after the U.S. announced 25% tariffs on all steel imports earlier this month, with South Korea provisionally imposing tariffs on Chinese steel imports last week.
“Iron ore prices were also lower, as data showed a pick-up in supply which weakened support for the steelmaking raw material,” analysts at ANZ said.
The total volume of iron ore dispatched from companies in Australia and Brazil under Mysteel tracking ended a two-week slump and rebounded to 25.8 million tons, as of February 23, doubling on-week, according to data from Chinese consultancy Mysteel.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE lost ground, with coking coal and coke down 1.89% and 1.9%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined. Rebar weakened 1.29%, both hot-rolled coil and wire rod were down around 1%, while stainless steel dipped 0.11%.
($1 = 7.2527 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Michele Pek; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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