* Dalian futures extend rally, Shanghai rebar slips
* Chinese Premier Li sees no hard landing for economy
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Spot iron ore prices scaled a 10-week high and firmer China futures on Thursday suggest further gains amid limited availability of cargoes for immediate shipment.
"Based on the current ship lineup at the ports, the volume of iron ore arriving to China will be tight," said a Shanghai-based iron ore trader.
Stocks of iron ore at China's ports have been falling for weeks and the country's imports of the steelmaking raw material dropped 14 percent in August from the previous month.
Iron ore inventory at major Chinese ports stood at 80.1 million tonnes as of Sept. 4, the lowest since June, data from consultancy SteelHome showed.
Chinese steel demand usually picks up from September along with construction activity after the summer lull, spurring mills to boost output.
Barring any impact from a slowing Chinese economy, "steel sales are normally good between September and October so mills increase production," said the trader, adding that the tightness in spot iron ore cargoes may be due to logistics issues among exporters to China.
The January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up almost 2 percent at 405 yuan ($63) a tonne by 0329 GMT, after touching a 10-week high of 406.50 yuan earlier. The contract jumped 4 percent on Wednesday.
That bodes well for spot prices which also rose to a 10-week top on Wednesday. Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port gained 0.9 percent to $56.90 a tonne, the highest since July 1, according to The Steel Index.
The spot benchmark has now risen 29 percent since hitting a decade-low of $44.10 in July.
"We believe the rally will be short-lived, with slowing steel demand and increasing challenges to Chinese steel export," ANZ wrote in a note to clients.
After shrinking for the first time since 1981 last year, China's crude steel consumption continued to drop this year as industrial activity in the world's top steel consumer slows after decades of speedy growth.
Still, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said he sees no hard landing for the economy and is confident that the government will meet its growth target this year.
The most-traded rebar for January delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 slipped 0.6 percent to 1,951 yuan a tonne.
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0329 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change SHFE REBAR JAN6
1951
-12.00
-0.61 DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO JAN6
405
+7.50
+1.89 SGX IRON ORE FUTURES OCT
55.2
+0.67
+1.23 THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
56.9
+0.50
+0.89 METAL BULLETIN INDEX
58.18
+0.76
+1.32
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day ($1 = 6.3839 Chinese yuan)