SINGAPORE: Spot iron ore prices pulled further away from 3-1/2-week highs as buyers from top importer China stepped back after restocking inventories.
"Some mills did replenish some stocks after the National Day holidays, but after that the buying interest has slowed," said an iron ore trader in Shanghai, referring to the Oct. 1-7 holidays.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China fell 2.1 percent to $80.50 a tonne on Thursday, according to data compiled by the Steel Index.
Iron ore, the top revenue earner at global miners Rio Tinto and Vale, jumped 4 percent to $83.10 on Monday, the highest since Sept. 17, in a rally spurred by a recovery in Chinese steel futures.
The price fall since then puts the commodity back near a five-year low of $77.50 reached just before China's National Day break.
Shanghai rebar futures were nearly flat at 2,640 yuan ($431) a tonne by midday after touching a three-week top of 2,683 yuan on Thursday.
Some iron ore traders who have held off on offering cargoes to the market earlier this week on hopes of keeping prices high have resumed sales, the Shanghai-based trader said.
"They can't hold off offers for too long because they need to clear some of their stocks," he said.
Iron ore prices have fallen 40 percent this year as big, low-cost suppliers boosted output at a time of slower demand growth from top buyer China.
Australian miner Fortescue Metals Group said on Thursday that shipments for the September quarter rose 60 percent from a year ago to 41.5 million tonnes.
Fortescue has expanded rapidly to become Australia's third-largest iron ore miner, behind Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton , and is currently producing at a rate of 156 million tonnes a year.
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