Iron ore futures prices traded largely within a tight range on Tuesday, as investors shifted focus to a meeting of China’s top leadership that will chart the economic policy of the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years.

The Communist Party leadership’s four-day closed-door meeting that began on Monday is expected to culminate with an outline of the policy, while the full plan and its development targets won’t be released until March 2026.

The meeting comes after a string of data showed that China’s crisis-hit property sector remained a drag on steel consumption, which also weighed on prospects for consumption for iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient.

The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) TIO1! closed daytime trade 0.13% higher at 769.5 yuan ($108.03) a metric ton. It touched the lowest level since August 20 at 760 yuan earlier in the session.

The benchmark November iron ore (SZZFX5) on the Singapore Exchange was up 0.41% at $103.95 a ton, as of 0755 GMT, after hitting the lowest since October 1 at $102.85.

Elsewhere, BHP Group BHP on Tuesday struck an upbeat note on global iron ore demand even as it warned of cooling growth in China.

China’s crude steel output slid to a 21-month low in September, dragged by sluggish demand and shrinking steel margins.

First-quarter iron ore output from BHP, the world’s third-largest supplier, slightly missed estimates due to maintenance works at Port Hedland in Australia.

Coking coal NYMEX:ACT1! and coke (DCJcv1), other steelmaking ingredients, slid 3.49% and 2.73%, respectively.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange mostly lost ground as lacklustre demand weighed.

Rebar RBF1! lost 0.36%, hot-rolled coil EHR1! dipped 0.31%, wire rod (SWRcv1) fell 0.51%, while stainless steel HRC1! added 0.44%.
Source: Reuters