Iron ore gains as upbeat data outweighs renewed Sino-US trade tension

Iron ore futures gained on Monday as robust steel export in top consumer China, along with lower ore shipments, outweighed concerns over renewed Sino-US trade tensions.

The benchmark November iron ore on the Singapore Exchange added 0.79 per cent to $107.2 per tonne, as of 0808 GMT, after touching its highest level since September 22 at $107.45 earlier.

The most-traded January iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) rose 1.13 per cent to hit the highest since September 26 at 804.5 yuan ($112.82) a tonne.

Prices of the key steelmaking ingredient surrendered earlier loss to trade higher after robust steel exports in September improved sentiment.

Supporting ore prices were lower shipments from major suppliers of Australia and Brazil in the week as of October 12, data from consultancy Mysteel showed.

Moreover, helping prices was firm demand, with the average daily hot metal output among Chinese steelmakers at 2.42 million tonnes in the week as of October 10, 3.6 per cent higher than the same period last year, Mysteel data showed.

But prices gains were curbed by caution on the revived trade spat between the world's two largest economies.

US President Donald Trump unveiled additional levies of 100 per cent on China's US-bound exports, along with new export controls on "any and all critical software" by November 1, after China announced plans to expand restrictions on rare earth elements, essential to the semiconductor and defence sectors.

That earlier dragged down prices, but it also sparked hopes that China would unveil stimulus to counter the negative effect on its economic growth, said analysts.

"Fiscal measures may be implemented to mitigate any potential trade-related shocks if needed," ANZ analysts said in a note.

Coking coal and coke, other steelmaking ingredients, fell 1.63 per cent and 1.14 per cent, respectively.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange lost ground. Rebar shed 0.77 per cent, hot-rolled coil slid 0.88 per cent, wire rod fell 1.64 per cent and stainless steel lost 1.59 per cent. ($1 = 7.1310 Chinese yuan)

Published on October 13, 2025