Benchmark Dalian iron ore futures fell as data showed the inventory of the steelmaking material at Chinese ports had climbed to the highest in more than a month.

Dalian Commodity Exchange’s most-traded iron ore contract, with January 2020 expiry, finished 2.8% lower at 600 yuan ($85.95) a tonne, after hitting 599.50 yuan just before the trading ended, its weakest since Oct. 18.

SMM data showed that iron ore stocks across 35 Chinese ports decreased by 350,000 mt from a week ago to 116.45 million mt as of Nov 8, after a drop of 2 million mt in the prior week. This was 14.38 million mt lower than a year ago.

The latest weekly figure is the highest since the second week of June.

The iron ore benchmark climbed to a record of 924.50 yuan a tonne on July 16 and has risen more than 100% this year amid supply outages in top exporters Australia and Brazil, and robust demand in China.

Maritime Business World