Iron ore futures rose for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, in view of supply tightness in the market.
At the closing of the afternoon session, the most-traded iron ore for September delivery on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange went up by 2.44 % or RMB 20 day-on-day to RMB 838.50 a tonne.
Likewise, the steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained slightly by RMB 9 or 0.24% at RMB 3,744 per tonne.
Closing the accounts on good note
Some trade participants expect some expect supply tightness ahead especially for Australian medium grades, as the Australian port typically undergo for scheduled maintenance at the end financial year during this period.
Market sources also expects lesser Australian shipments over the near term as the Australian miners had just shipped a record-high iron ore volume during June to close the account books on positive notes.
As it was estimated that the miners shipped a record-high volumes of 46.2 million mt of iron ore from Port Hedland to China during the month of June.
Despite the record high shipments, some trade participants indicated that there was some supply tightness in portside inventory especially for medium grades.
Iron ore imports near 3-year high
China imported 101.68 million mt of tonnes of iron ore in June, up 16.8% month-on-month and almost a three-year high, according to the General Administration of Customs.
So far, the June import volumes was the highest since October 2017, and up 35.3% year-on-year, while the first six-month total imports totaled at 546.9 million mt, up 9.6% on yearly basis.
The rising monthly imports reflected on the robust Chinese steel demand, however, some trade participants expected a slowdown in the summer season, as the hot weather in northern China and heavy rains in southern China might affect steel demand.