China’s Iron Ore, Steel Imports 19 Month’s Highest in August
Iron ore futures in China rose to a 19 th Months high in August, fueled by hopes of stable demand as anti-pollution curbs in top steelmaking cities ahead of the National Day holiday were more lenient than expected. The most-traded iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange for January 2020 delivery rose as much as 2.1% to 649 yuan ($91.50) a tonne on Wednesday and closed at 644.5 yuan. “Overall production curbs in Tangshan in September are on par with August, which are loose,” Huatai Futures said in a note, adding that output restrictions in Wuan, county-level city of the second-biggest steelmaking city of Handan, tightened slightly this month compared with August. The most-active construction steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was closed up 0.7% at 3,423 yuan a tonne. “We believe that Chinese demand has further room to grow and outpace production in Q419 and 2020 as the government is now more likely to step up targeted stimulus for the infrastru...