(Updates close prices)
SHANGHAI, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Chinese iron ore futures edged up on Thursday, but rising supplies from top miners and overwhelming port inventories in the world's top consumer are expected to keep the steelmaking raw material under pressure.
The most active iron ore futures contract for May settlement on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 closed 0.2 percent higher at 320 yuan ($48.54) a tonne. It has rebounded about 13 percent after hitting a record low at 282.5 yuan on Dec. 11.
Top iron ore miners in Australia and Brazil are expanding supplies despite tumbling prices and a gloomy outlook this year.
Iron ore shipments to China through Australia's Port Hedland rose 1 percent to 32.17 million tonnes in December, Pilbara Ports Authority figures showed on Wednesday. all of 2015, shipments to China rose to 377.88 million tonnes from 343.41 million tonnes in 2014, based on Reuters calculations, as top miners are maximizing output to squeeze out smaller rivals and increase market share.
"We believe the low cost Australian exporters will continue to gain seaborne market share at the expense of high cost producers in 2016, thus flattening the cost curve further," ANZ said in a research note on Thursday.
Iron ore inventories at 42 Chinese ports rose further, up 0.9 percent to 96.869 million tonnes on Thursday from Wednesday, data from industry consultancy Umetal showed, reflecting weakening demand from steel mills.
Spot iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI fell for a second straight day, down 0.5 percent to $41.90 a tonne on Wednesday, according to The Steel Index (TSI).
The benchmark rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 slipped 0.2 percent to 1,773 yuan a tonne by close.
Rebar and iron ore prices at 0700 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change
SHFE REBAR MAY6
1773
-3.00
-0.17
DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO MAY6
320
+0.50
+0.16
THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
41.9
-0.20
-0.48
METAL BULLETIN INDEX
42.91
-0.20
-0.46
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne
Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day
($1 = 6.5924 Chinese yuan renminbi)