SHANGHAI, July 17 (Reuters) - Chinese rebar futures was heading for the 7th weekly fall on Friday as demand in the world's top producer China wanes, with the summer slowdown seeing more mills rein in production.
China's apparent consumption of crude steel is expected to decline further this year as sputtering economic growth hits demand from end users including property and shipbuilding.
The most traded January rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 traded steady at 2,034 yuan($327.58) a tonne by the midday break. It was falling for the seventh straight week and has lost 26 percent so far this year.
"Demand from end users remains poor, and the lower production rate is not expected to bolster prices unless it is a fast big decline lasting long," said Zhou Zhijun, an analyst with Zhongcai Futures in Shanghai.
The most active January iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 slipped 0.6 percent to 348 yuan a tonne by the midday break. Prices have dropped 28 percent in the year to date.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI dipped 0.2 percent to $50 a tonne on Thursday, based on data from The Steel Index. Prices have tumbled 29 percent this year.
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0341 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change
SHFE REBAR JAN6
2034
+0.00
+0.00
DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO JAN6
348
-2.00
-0.57
THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
50
-0.10
-0.20
METAL BULLETIN INDEX
50.66
+0.11
+0.22
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne
Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day
($1 = 6.2092 Chinese yuan renminbi)