BEIJING- Steel futures in China traded in a tight range on Monday, hit by fears over the new Omicron coronavirus variant, while coking coal and coke prices fell on a plunge in thermal coal futures.
“Affected by the new coronavirus variant, steel prices fell during night session out of panic,” GF Futures wrote in a note, adding that impact on actual demand and supply of the industrial metal could be limited.
Analysts with CITIC Futures also noted that commodity prices could be pressured by the pandemic situation in the short term but would be supported by easing property policy in the long run.
Construction used steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for May delivery, edged 0.1 percent higher to 4,187 yuan ($655.77) a ton.
The January contract of hot rolled coils, used in the manufacturing sector, inched up 0.5 percent to 4,596 yuan per ton.
Shanghai stainless steel futures fell 2 percent to 17,280 yuan a ton.
Prices for steelmaking ingredients on the Dalian Commodity Exchange were mixed.
Benchmark iron ore futures jumped 4.7 percent to 614 yuan a ton. They surged 5.2 percent earlier.
Spot prices of iron ore with 62 percent iron content for delivery to China, compiled by SteelHome consultancy, fell $4.5 to $102 a ton on Friday.
Coking coal and coke futures, however, tracked the drop in thermal coal prices which were down more than 7 percent in early trade.
Coking coal and coke fell 1 percent to 2,072 yuan per ton and 1.2 percent to 2,643 yuan a ton, respectively.
“Downstream steel demand is relatively weak, the pressure is conducting to coal,” according to the CITIC Futures note. “The lenient supply and demand in coking coal could further send down (steelmaking) costs.”
