Iron ore heads for weekly loss as seasonally weak demand weighs
By Amy Lv and Mei Mei Chu
BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) -Iron ore futures prices were rangebound on Friday but were set for a weekly loss, pressured by the seasonally slowing demand in top consumer China as well as concerns overdemand prospects in 2025.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended morning trade 0.06% higher at 775.5 yuan ($106.25) a metric ton, posing a weekly drop of 2.9% so far.
The benchmark January iron ore <SZZFF5> on the Singapore Exchange lost 0.5% to $101.3 a ton, as of 0452 GMT. It has fallen 2.5% so far this week.
The continued decline in hot metal output, which is typically used to gauge iron ore demand, put prices of the key steelmaking ingredient under pressure, said analysts.
Average daily hot metal output slid for a fifth straight week, data from consultancy Mysteel showed. Output fell by 1.3% week-on-week to its lowest level since early October at 2.29 million tons in the week to Dec. 20, per data.
However, that was 1.2% higher than the same period in 2023, Mysteel data showed, suggesting demand was resilient, limiting the decline in prices.
Additionally, the signal that the U.S. Federal Reserve will slow down rate cuts in 2025 supported the dollar, weighing on the greenback-priced commodities.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE advanced, with coking coal DJMcv1 and coke DCJcv1 up 1.21% and 1.57%, respectively.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were mixed. Rebar SRBcv1 nudged up 0.09%, stainless steel SHSScv1 added 0.19% while hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 edged down 0.06%, and wire rod SWRcv1 slid 3.38%.
China's steel demand is forecast to fall 1.5% in 2025 and drop 4.4% in 2024 from the year before, the state-backed China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute (MPI) said on Friday.
($1 = 7.2988 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Amy Lv and Mei Mei Chu; Editing by Eileen Soreng
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