BEIJING: Benchmark iron ore futures in China dropped for a third straight session on Monday, falling as much as 2.7% as rising port inventories dampened a price surge driven by supply concerns.

The most-traded iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange for September delivery closed down 2.0% at 815 yuan ($116.48) per tonne, after dropping as much as 2.7% earlier.

"Supplies from the top four miners are still within the expectation. Based on the shipment data, arrivals in the next period will dip but still around high levels," CITIC Futures wrote in a note.

"Iron ore supplies are recovering and the support for prices will weaken," it added.

Stockpiles of imported iron ore at China's ports rose for a sixth straight week to 115.05 million tonnes, as of July 26, the highest in nearly three months, data from SteelHome consultancy showed.

Steel rebar prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for October delivery ended down 1.2% at 3,723 yuan a tonne.

Hot-rolled coils used in the manufacturing sector fell 1.1% to 3,747 yuan per tonne.

Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China fell by $1.5 to $111.5 per tonne on Friday compared with the previous session.

Stainless steel on the Shanghai exchange rose 0.7% to 13,720 yuan a tonne.

Dalian coking coal was down 0.4% at 1,224 yuan and coke fell 1.6% to 1,961 yuan per tonne.

Profits at China's industrial firms rose for a second straight month and at the fastest pace in over a year, adding to signs the country's economic recovery from the coronavirus crisis is gaining momentum.

China has granted import quotas of another 10,110 tonnes of high-grade copper scrap, 1,110 tonnes of aluminium scrap and 3,970 tonnes of steel scrap for 2020, according government notice.