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Iron ore falls as Australia, Brazil supply recovers

Published 05/04/2016, 01:20 pm
Updated 05/04/2016, 01:30 pm
© Reuters.  Iron ore falls as Australia, Brazil supply recovers
TKAG
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VALE
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* Dalian iron ore futures fall as much as 3.4 pct

* Singapore futures down 3 pct, Shanghai rebar up slightly

By Manolo Serapio Jr

MANILA, April 5 (Reuters) - Iron ore futures in China and Singapore dropped on Tuesday as recovering supply from top exporters Australia and Brazil pressured the raw material after its best quarter in more than three years.

Supply disruptions, partly due to unfavourable weather, helped lift iron ore prices early this year.

"If you look at seaborne shipments especially from Australia on a weekly basis, they're starting to show some increase. Supply from Brazil is also recovering," said Wang Di, analyst at CRU consultancy in Beijing.

But Chinese demand for iron ore remains moderate, said Wang.

The most-traded September iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 was down 2.6 percent at 375 yuan ($58) a tonne by 0305 GMT, after falling as far as 372 yuan. Chinese markets were shut on Monday for a public holiday.

On the Singapore Exchange, the most-active June iron ore SZZFM6 slid 3 percent to $48.90 a tonne.

The losses come after a strong quarter for the steelmaking ingredient that saw the spot price rise 24 percent, outpacing gains in other industrial commodities as well as gold.

A surge in Chinese steel pricing on expectations of firm seasonal demand from March through May spurred similar gains in iron ore. But the raw material has come off March highs.

"We do not believe current iron ore prices are sustainable and should soften through 2016," Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau said in a note.

Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI was unchanged at $54 a tonne on Monday, according to The Steel Index, amid limited trading activity with China's holiday.

The spot benchmark touched a nearly nine-month high of $63.30 on March 8.

With commodity prices at historic lows, top iron ore miner Vale SA VALE5.SA said it would sell its entire 26.87 percent stake in the struggling CSA steel plant to Germany's ThyssenKrupp TKAG.DE for a token value, in a bid to focus on core mining businesses. most-traded October rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 edged up 0.5 percent to 2,177 yuan a tonne.

($1 = 6.4695 Chinese yuan)

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