Iron ore futures rebounded from recent losses, due to lower shipments from miners based in Australia and Brazil.
The futures of Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) for January delivery then inched up slightly by 0.07% day-on-day or up RMB 0.50 to RMB 707/mt, during the day trading session on Tuesday.
The rebar futures also rose by 2.25% day-on-day or up RMB 122 to RMB 5,546/mt, during the day trading session.
Less iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil
Both Australia and Brazil shipped a weekly total of 23.54 million mt as of Oct 17, down 589,000 mt on-week, according to Mysteel.
Some trade participants even doubt whether Vale will reach its annual guidance of 315 -335 million mt by year-end, after Rio Tinto cut its guidance to ship 320 – 325 million mt of iron ore from earlier estimate of 325 – 340 million mt.
Nevertheless, some trade participants remained hopeful that the Brazilian miner will achieve the lower end of guidance, due to less bad weather-related output disruption in Brazil and the miner’s tendency to ramp up production toward year-end.
Growing rebar production amid power crunch
Chinese rebar production grew for the second consecutive week to 2.8 million mt during Oct 7-13 period, up 4.3% on-week, reflecting decent steel margins and demand.
The higher output was linked to relaxation of power rationing in Jiangsu and Guangxi provinces that enabled mills to operate at higher rates.
However, most of the rebar production is likely to consume within the domestic economy, as China’s steel export volume remained low, though import interests for wire rod had risen among traders.