The pullback in steel prices dragged raw material iron ore futures lower, with the most-active September contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange down 0.7%.
A recent decline in crude steel output and an expected boost in Chinese demand this month, after the Lunar New Year holidays in February, have pushed prices higher, they said.
About 70 ships containing an estimated 6 million tonnes of Australian thermal and metallurgical coal were sitting off the coast of China waiting to unload, according to ANZ commodity strategists.
Prices of key input iron ore remain elevated after last year's spikes driven by robust demand in China, which produced a record-high volume of steel despite the pandemic.
China reported its biggest daily jump in new COVID-19 cases in more than 10 months for Jan.13, underscoring the growing threat ahead of a major national holiday.