The iron ore price advanced on Wednesday, buoyed by supply concerns.
Some border cities in China’s Inner Mongolia region and Heilongjiang province have halted non-container imports by rail for commodities including coal, iron ore, copper ore and zinc to reduce risks amid a recent resurgence of covid-19 infections.
According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $104.49 a tonne, up 1.9% from Tuesday’s closing.
Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian exchange, for January delivery, jumped 1.6% to 624 yuan a tonne at close.
The World Health Organisation warned that deciding the severity level of the new omicron variant could take “days to several weeks” in the absence of information that its symptoms differed from those of other variants.
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(With files from Reuters)