SINGAPORE: Iron ore futures prices fell on Monday as prospects of weak demand in top consumer China and firmer supply overshadowed hopes that the world’s second-largest economy would announce fresh stimulus measures to meet its 2024 growth target.

The most-traded January iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) traded 3.55% lower at 665.0 yuan ($94.33) a metric ton, as of 0230 GMT. The benchmark October iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 1.39% lower at $90.4 a ton.

“The broader risk-off tone is being underpinned by a weak outlook for Chinese demand, as evidenced by weakness in new housing construction and a lack of offset from the infrastructure sector,” Westpac analysts said in a note.

Raw iron ore output in the January-August period climbed 4.1% year-on-year, Chinese financial information site Hexun Futures reported, citing data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Stainless steel exports hit a record high in August, rising 33.4% year-on-year to approximately 488,000 tons, according to data from the General Administration of Customs, Chinese consultancy Mysteel said.

The surge in exports, also up 18.9% from July, comes as manufacturers increasingly turn to the global market amid sluggish domestic demand this year, Mysteel said. China unexpectedly left benchmark lending rates unchanged at its monthly fixing last Friday, but market watchers widely believe further stimulus will be rolled out to prop up the ailing economy, following the Federal Reserve’s outsized rate cut and a slew of disappointing August economic data. Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE also lost ground, with coking coal and coke down 1.48% and 2.4%, respectively.

Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange were weaker. Rebar shed nearly 3%, hot-rolled coil weakened 2.34%, wire rod declined almost 2.4% and stainless steel lost about 2.1%.