Dalian bourse to launch iron ore futures trading this week

[SHANGHAI] China's Dalian Commodity Exchange will start trading the country's first iron ore futures for physical delivery this week, challenging index-backed contracts by CME Group and Singapore Exchange.

Trading will begin on Friday after the securities regulator approved the plan last week, the bourse in the north-eastern port city said in a statement on its website.

Chinese steelmakers, the world's biggest iron ore buyers, earlier this year questioned the reliability of a price index provided by Platts that became a benchmark after producers including Vale and Rio Tinto Group scrapped annual contract price talks in 2010.