China will step up supervision of iron ore markets: state planner

CHINA will step up supervision of iron ore markets, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on Tuesday (Apr 4).

Iron ore futures companies should not deliberately exaggerate price increases, and they should strengthen market risk alerts to investors, NDRC said.

The state planner said it recently held a meeting with some futures companies to discuss iron ore market and prices.

Those companies attending the meeting said iron ore prices are likely to fall, particularly in the second half of this year due to gradual increases in global supply and domestic supply of steel scrap, according to the NDRC note.

Fears of government’s crackdown on prices had already pressured down iron ore prices this week, following a weekly rally of 6.3 per cent in the previous week.

The most-traded May iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading on Tuesday 2.06 per cent lower at 881.5 yuan (S$170) a tonne, the lowest since Mar 28. REUTERS