Prices of iron ore futures slid on Thursday on elevated concerns over demand in top consumer China fueled by weakening steel consumption that has outweighed hopes of policy signals from Beijing’s high-level meeting.

The most-traded iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) TIO1! closed daytime trade 1.3% lower at 757 yuan ($107.22) a metric ton.

The benchmark January iron ore (SZZFF6) on the Singapore Exchange slipped 1.36% to $101.35 a ton as of 0702 GMT.

Prices of the key steelmaking ingredient tumbled after data showed steel demand weakened further.

Apparent consumption of five major steel products fell for a third consecutive week by 2.8% week-on-week to around 8.4 million tons, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.

In morning trading, prices were rangebound as investors awaited policy signals from Beijing, with eyes on the upcoming annual Central Economic Work Conference, where Beijing is expected to set key growth targets and policy priorities for next year.

Expectations that China will unveil fresh stimulus heightened after the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates, analysts at Jinyuan Futures said.

On Wednesday, the International Monetary Fund urged China to make the “brave choice” of speeding up structural reform, as pressure grows on the world’s second-largest economy to shift to a consumption-led model and curb reliance on debt-driven exports.

The IMF upgraded its China growth forecast for 2025 to 5% from 4.8%, citing the production powerhouse’s strong outbound shipments, also lifting its 2026 forecast to 4.5% from 4.2%.

From the perspective of fundamentals, growing iron ore supply and weakening steel demand continued to put ore prices under pressure.

Other steelmaking ingredients, coking coal NYMEX:ACT1! and coke (DCJcv1), slumped 4.39% and 2.96%, respectively.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost ground. Rebar RBF1! fell 1.32%, hot-rolled coil EHR1! shed 1.19%, stainless steel HRC1! lost 0.44% and wire rod (SWRcv1) dipped 0.62%.
Source: Reuters