BEIJING: Iron ore futures prices drifted lower on Tuesday, as wider losses induced production cuts among steelmakers in top consumer China and lingering high portside inventories weighed on sentiment. The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) bucked the recent uptrend to slide 0.97% to 766.5 yuan ($107.18) a metric ton, as of 0243 GMT after climbing nearly 2% on Monday.

The benchmark September iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.64% lower at $103.15 a ton. Prices of the key steelmaking ingredient were hit by receding near-term buying appetite after more Chinese steelmakers recorded loss, said analysts.

“We expect hot metal output to see more significant drops this week as more mills suffered losses...and the iron ore market has not yet to enter the cycle of destocking,” analysts at Galaxy Futures said in a note.