* Slower exports from top suppliers Australia, Brazil
* Chinese mills still restocking ahead of Lunar New Year break
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Iron ore futures in China and Singapore raced to multi-month highs on Thursday, supported by slower shipments from top suppliers at a time when Chinese steel producers are replenishing stocks ahead of next week's Lunar New Year holiday.
The gains could spur a further rally in spot prices that climbed to the highest since November on Wednesday, providing some relief to a market that tumbled 40 percent last year amid a global glut.
Shipments of iron ore to top market China from Australia's Port Hedland fell 17.6 percent in January from the previous month after a cyclone temporarily shut the port, which handles a fifth of the world's seaborne trade. with rains that have slowed shipments from Brazil, "iron ore loading at major Chinese ports has declined since the last week of January," said Wang Di, analyst at CRU Group in Beijing.
"At the same time, restocking demand from mills continued this week and might go on until tomorrow," said Wang.
China will take a week-long public holiday from Monday for the Spring Festival.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 was up 4 percent at 340 yuan ($52) a tonne by midday, just off the session high of 341 yuan. That was its strongest level since Oct. 20.
On the Singapore Exchange, the most-active March iron ore contract SZZFH6 climbed 2.4 percent to $44.08, also the highest since October.
Those gains could spill over to spot iron ore prices. Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI jumped 2.1 percent to $44 a tonne on Wednesday, according to The Steel Index.
That was the highest since Nov. 23, and takes the spot benchmark's three-day gain to 6 percent.
A temporary tightening in the Chinese steel market which lifted steel prices was also contributing to the rally in iron ore, said ANZ Bank.
"We believe inventory levels will rebound strongly after the Chinese New Year, keeping prices weak in the near term," it said in a note.
Construction-used rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 rose 1.6 percent to 1,848 yuan a tonne, closing in on the four-month high of 1,871 yuan reached last week.
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0501 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change SHFE REBAR MAY6
1848
+29.00
+1.59 DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO MAY6
340
+13.00
+3.98 SGX IRON ORE FUTURES MAR
44.08
+1.01
+2.35 THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
44
+0.90
+2.09 METAL BULLETIN INDEX
44.63
+0.79
+1.80
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day ($1 = 6.5776 Chinese yuan)