The September iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity exchange closed 6.5 yuan higher at 472.5 yuan ($71) per ton on Thursday, just 1.5 yuan below the highest close of the year made on April 21 when speculators propelled prices to a 15 month high.
The benchmark spot price for 62% fines delivered to the Qingdao port settled at $60.70 per ton, according to Metal Bulletin. 62% fines delivered to the Tianjin port rose 1% to $58 per ton on Wednesday, according to The Steel Index.
A major flood in northern China disrupted some deliveries last week, while some furnaces in the
The most active October steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 2.6% to 2,480 yuan per ton, after briefly touching a high of 2,503 yuan earlier.
According to a July 14 Wall Street Journal report, Macquarie, a bank, is skeptical that the continued rise will go on for very long given high port stocks, low oil prices, and reduced steel output.
Port holdings increased 0.2% to 105.65 million tons last week, the highest since December 2015, according to Shanghai Steelhome Information Technology Company.
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