Iron ore price retreated on Thursday, despite hopes of improved steel demand in China in 2023.

According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $111.83 a tonne Thursday morning, down 1.5%.

China will implement policy measures to support the economy and aim for an improvement in growth in early 2023, state media on Wednesday quoted the cabinet as saying.

Last week, Chinese leaders pledged to focus on stabilizing the economy in 2023 and step up policy adjustments.

But worries about the economic impact of covid-19 outbreaks in the near term weighed on the steelmaking ingredient’s benchmark January contract on the Singapore Exchange, which was down 1.2% at $110.90 a tonne as of 0716 GMT.

“The economy is struggling to recover from rising covid cases,” said Iris Pang, ING Greater China chief economist. “We expect that economic recovery from now until March will be bumpy.”

A Shanghai hospital has told its staff to prepare for a “tragic battle” with covid-19 as it expects half of the city’s 25 million people to get infected by the end of the year.

(With files from Reuters)

Source: MINING.COM – Read More