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China's rebar rises for fourth day on capacity cutbacks
Reuters Reuters
Thursday July 13, 2017 1:09 AM
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* Beijing eyes capacity cutbacks in state-backed steel mills -report
* Supply-side reform sparks speculators
* Iron ore fell after four-day-gain
BEIJING, July 13 (Reuters) - China's steel rebar futures rose for a fourth session on Thursday as markets anticipate tighter supply amid Beijing's determination to rein in capacity.
In the latest move, the country's state assets regulator is planning a pilot scheme to push loss-making state-owned enterprises in coal and steel to tackle overcapacity, according to a report from Economic Information Daily. Official data showed state-owned key enterprises have already eliminated 5.95 million tonnes of steel capacity in the first half of this year.
"Demand for steel has not cooled down, which provides a hotbed for speculators to take advantage of supply-side reform," wrote analyst at Orient Futures in a note.
China, the world's largest steel producer, has eliminated about 120 million tonnes of low-quality steel capacity in the first six months of this year in order to reduce emissions. The most-traded construction steel contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 0.6 percent to 3,605 yuan ($531.83) a tonne on Thursday. The contract has gained over 35 percent so far this year.
Total open interest in rebar contracts rose by 11,000 lots to 5.74 million contracts, the highest since the contract was launched in 2009, equivalent to 57.4 million tonnes.
Spot rebar prices climbed nearly 1 percent to 3,882.4 yuan a tonne on Wednesday, according to data on the Mysteel website.
Stocks of rebar held by Chinese traders remained at low levels at 3.74 million tonnes by Friday, data from SteelHome consultants showed.
The most-active iron ore contract eased after four days of gains, falling 0.2 percent to 490 yuan a tonne.China imported 94.43 milion tonnes of iron ore in June, up 3 percent on previous month, data from customs data showed on Thursday. "Fundamentals are relatively weak on iron ore, compared with steel products which have hit the highest in over three years. Any news may curb iron ore prices at this moment," said Xu Bo, analyst at Haitong Futures.
Stockpiles of imported iron ore at ports fell to 193.3 million tonnes as of Monday, just below the record level of 141.5 million tonnes on June 23 ($1 = 6.7785 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Beijing Newsroom)