📊 Steel Market Update

🔹 Dalian iron ore futures are set to post their biggest weekly decline in nearly six weeks.

🔹 Iron ore prices remained under pressure due to weak seasonal demand and ample seaborne supply.

🔹 The September iron ore contract fell 0.8% to 741 yuan ($109.36) per metric ton, recording a 2.63% weekly decline.

🔹 On the Singapore Exchange, the August benchmark iron ore contract slipped 0.52% to $97.65 per ton, marking a 2.54% decline for the week.

🔹 Analysts expect iron ore prices to remain under pressure as weak steel demand in China continues to weigh on the market.

🔹 Latest data showed building materials consumption declined 3.8% week-on-week, while plate steel consumption fell 1.6%.

🔹 Seasonal restocking by steel mills towards the end of August may provide some support to prices, but any sustained recovery will depend on improvements in China’s property and construction sectors.

🔹 Iron ore inventories at major Chinese ports declined 0.46% week-on-week to 155.88 million tonnes.

🔹 Other steelmaking raw materials showed limited movement, with coking coal unchanged and coke edging up 0.05%.

🔹 On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, steel benchmarks closed lower, with rebar down 0.68% and hot-rolled coil down 0.30%.