Iron ore futures inched up for slight gain at day session close, despite experiencing a good rebound at the morning session after a week of trading losses.
The futures of Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) for September delivery then rose slightly by 0.26% day-on-day or up RMB 2 to RMB 777.50/mt, during the day trading session on Friday.
The rebar futures, also rose by 1.65% day-on-day or RMB 83 to RMB 5,100/mt, during the day trading session.
Slight increase to mills’ steel stocks
Some market participants related the uptick to the minimal increase of steel stocks among Chinese mills, which reached 6.39 million mt as of Aug 18, inched up slightly by 0.3% on weekly basis, according to Mysteel.
As some trade participants expected more excess steel stocks volumes stored among the 184 Chinese mills, given the low steel consumption environment.
Meanwhile, several Chinese mills were heard to be proceeding with planned maintenance in the month and might offer their excess iron ore cargoes for August and September loading to the spot market.
CISA asks for steel exports discipline among mills
China Iron & Steel Association (CISA) urged its members to practice more discipline in the steel export volume and adjusted their business models for more ‘domestic driven demand’.
Perhaps, the latest statement from CISA cleared the recent market talks that Beijing policymakers might impose new taxes on steel exports at the range of 10-20% in the month of August.
But the statement did express the industry to focus more on domestic economy rather than oversea demand, and yet at the same time being active for environmental protection and conservation of resources.