Iron ore futures fell below CNY 740 per ton, hovering near their lowest levels in almost a year as narrowing profit margins for steel mills and seasonal demand weakness weighed on sentiment.
Industry data showed profitability among Chinese steel mills dropped to about 51% in the latest week, down 4.8 percentage points from the previous week and 8.2 percentage points from a year earlier.
The margin squeeze followed a fatal coal-mining accident in Shanxi last month, which drove up coke prices and encouraged mills to use more medium-to-high-grade iron ore to improve efficiency.
Iron ore has also remained under pressure in recent weeks due to seasonally softer demand, increasing seaborne supply, and still-elevated inventories at Chinese ports, with stockpiles reaching a record level for this time of year at 160 million tons.
Source: Trading Economics
