China’s iron ore futures up 5.34%, rebar hit a new high in four months

The price of rebar futures continues to rise, with its major product RB2005 reaching RMB 3,518 per ton, an increase of 2.96%, highest since July.

Rebar futures have been rising since Oct, especially from mid Nov due to the contracts roll back from last week. From last Friday, driven by supporting policies, rebar futures have risen significantly again. According to China’s Iron and Steel Association, as at the end of Nov, China’s Steel Price Index (CSPI) hit 108.17 points, up 3.67% MoM, mainly due to the increase in the price of long steel products such as rebar, while the increase in other types of steel were relatively small.

In addition to rebar, most of the chemical commodities in China’s futures market strengthened on Dec 9, with the main iron ore contracts hitting the daily increase limitation of 10%. In the late morning, iron ore futures were up 5.34%, coke rose 3.02%, and hot coil, wire rod and coking coal were all up more than 1%.

Driven by the futures market, China’s stocks in the iron and steel sector also led the increase. By the end of the morning trading, the steel index and the coal index were up 1.98% and 1.19%, respectively. Among the stocks, SGIS Songshan (000717) rose 6.55%, Fangda Special Steel (600507) up 4.83%, Anyuan Coal Industry (600397) rose 3.14%, Hengyuan Coal Power (600971) and Wintime Energy (600157) was up more than 2%.

Earlier in Sep, iron ore options were officially listed on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE). As the first industrial metal’s option of DCE, such options will further enrich China’s derivatives trading, which is of great significance to promote the derivatives market to further serve the steel industry and promote the establishment of alternative international iron ore pricing.
Source: China Knowledge