- Dalian iron ore falls as much as 4.4 pct to 3-wk low
- Brazil iron ore exports seen up in Feb despite Vale shutdowns
Chinese iron ore futures hit their lowest in more than three weeks on Tuesday following news that Brazil's average daily exports of the steel-making raw material this month outpaced shipments in February 2018, despite last month's mine disaster.
For the month to Feb. 22, Brazil exported 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore per business day on average, exceeding the average daily shipments of the mineral in February 2018 by 7.8 percent, according to data from foreign trade agency Secex.
Speculations about the magnitude of losses from Brazil's iron ore supply, as last month's collapse of Vale's Brumadinho tailings dam in Brazil led the top miner to halt several of its operations, had propelled iron ore prices to record peaks.
The most traded iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 fell as much as 4.4 percent in early trade to hit 586 yuan ($87.52) a tonne.
It has fallen nearly 11 percent since hitting an intraday record high of 657.5 yuan on Feb. 12, as demand remained tepid amid high inventories in top importer and consumer China.
Construction steel rebar futures were also lower, with the most-active rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 falling as much as 1.4 percent to 3,672 yuan a tonne.
"Some of the steam has left the Chinese ferrous markets...after a very solid run of late amid worries over supply disruptions," said analyst Edward Meir of INTL FCStone Financial.
Hot rolled coil SHHCv1 edged 0.1 percent higher at 3,711 yuan by 0235 GMT.
Coking coal DJMcv1 was down 0.4 percent at 1,286 yuan while coke DCJcv1 fell 1.2 percent to 2,129 yuan.
Spot iron ore for delivery to China, with 62 percent iron content SH-CCN-IRNOR62 , inched up 0.6 percent to $87.50 a tonne on Monday, according to SteelHome consultancy.
($1 = 6.6953 Chinese yuan)
