Iron ore fell to the lowest level in almost three weeks on worries that a seasonal decline in demand from steel mills and slowing growth in China.
Imported iron ore prices dipped in the week ending July 2 due to continued waning demand and overall economic woes.
China's steel inventory has started increasing after 17 weeks of decline, without any sign of a market rebound after a dramatic decline in profits.
China's steel companies had a total loss of 11.75 billion yuan ($1.9 billion), about 27 times more than at the same period last year.
Growth of China's crude steel output slowed in the first five months, as demand dropped amid a cooling domestic economy, according to data from the country's top economic planner.
The industry is gearing up for an expected surge in demand in the wake of a speedup in the approval of major infrastructure and industrial projects.
Activity on online spot-trading platform for iron ore slowed in the past two weeks, a result of weaker economic growth and feeble markets.
China's economic slowdown has led to weak demand for iron ore and coal in the domestic and overseas markets.
China's iron ore platform has since experienced the doldrums, as up to May 22, it has only handled seven transactions, a volume of about 856,500 tons and $119 million.
The stainless steel industry in China will continue to expand during the country's 12th Five-Year-Plan (2011-15).
China's overseas steel orders slumped in April, and the situation will worsen further this month because of the gloomy global economy, analysts said.
China's steelmakers lost steam and fell back into losses in the first quarter as the economy decelerated.
China used less crude steel in the first quarter of 2012 than in the same period a year ago, the first such decrease recorded in three years.
China's iron and steel industry "is stepping into loss stage, from the minor profit stage," Laodong Daily reported Thursday citing CISA vice-president Liu Zhenjiang.
Iron ore prices will trend lower this year with slight fluctuations, and the import price may fall below $110 a ton as the domestic market continues to contract, a senior official said on Tuesday.
China's steelmakers suffered losses in 2011 because of rising costs and shrinking demand. That will result in weak performances following the Chinese Lunar New Year and the situation will continue for several months until the downstream market grows.
China's crude steel output posted its first yearly decline in November 2011 to 49.88 million tons, according to latest data provided by the country's top economic planner.
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263 Registration Number: 130349 
