* Shanghai rebar falls from 4-month high, down over 2 pct
* Port Hedland evacuates vessels as tropical low approaches
* Fortescue sees cash breakeven price well below $36/tonne (Recasts, updates prices)
By Manolo Serapio Jr
MANILA, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Iron ore futures in China ended lower on Thursday as a rally to the 3-1/2-week peak proved fleeting after steel prices slid more than 2 percent.
Shanghai rebar futures slipped from a four-month high, underlining weak demand in top steel producer and consumer China.
"We saw a rally in steel prices due to shutdowns and maintenance, but given that there is no support from underlying demand, the rally was shortlived," said Wang Di, analyst, CRU Group in Beijing.
Some of the mills shut due to weak demand in China. Apparent steel consumption in the world's top steel user declined for the second year in a row in 2015.
The most-traded May iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 closed down 0.9 percent at 318.50 yuan ($48.42) a tonne after touching a session-high of 326.50 yuan, its strongest since Jan. 4.
March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange SZZFH6 slid nearly 2 percent to $40.08 a tonne.
On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, construction-used rebar SRBcv1 fell 2.3 percent to end at 1,815 yuan a tonne, after hitting a four-month peak of 1,871 yuan on Wednesday.
There was a pickup in physical trading activity in iron ore in China ahead of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday in early February, but volumes were modest.
"There's some buying for Chinese New Year but it's smaller in scale as compared with previous years," said Wang.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China's Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI climbed 1.2 percent to $41.30 a tonne on Wednesday, according to The Steel Index.
Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX , the world's No. 4 iron ore miner, expects to achieve a cash breakeven price well below $36 a tonne after the company reported it had cut its production costs faster than planned. are keeping an eye on possible shipment disruptions in Port Hedland, the largest iron ore export terminal in Australia, where vessels were evacuated when tropical low weather system approaches.
Port Dampier, one of two ports used by Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX to ship iron ore, will also evacuate vessels. and iron ore prices at 0707 GMT
Contract
Last
Change Pct Change SHFE REBAR MAY6
1815
-43.00
-2.31 DALIAN IRON ORE DCE DCIO MAY6
318.5
-3.00
-0.93 SGX IRON ORE FUTURES FEB
41.28
-0.45
-1.08 THE STEEL INDEX 62 PCT INDEX
41.3
+0.50
+1.23 METAL BULLETIN INDEX
42.43
+1.35
+3.29
Dalian iron ore and Shanghai rebar in yuan/tonne Index in dollars/tonne, show close for the previous trading day ($1 = 6.5778 Chinese yuan)