The iron ore price rose on Monday despite demand fears due to the new omicron coronavirus variant.
62% Fe fine gauge imported into northern China was changing hands at $103.27 per tonne, up 6.8% from Friday's close, according to Fastmarkets MB.
Shanghai stainless steel futures fell 2.6% to yuan 17,170 per tonne.
“Steel prices affected by the novel coronavirus variant fell from panic in the night session,” GF Futures wrote in a note, adding that the impact on the actual demand and supply of the industrial metal may be limited.
CITIC Futures analysts noted that commodity prices may be suppressed by the pandemic situation in the short term, but will be bolstered by loosening real estate policy in China in the long term.
The World Health Organization warned that in the absence of information that its symptoms differ from other variants, it may take "days to several weeks" for the severity level of the omicron variant to be decided.
The variant has been detected in Australia, England, Canada, Germany and Hong Kong after first being detected in South Africa.
Meanwhile, a South African doctor said the symptoms of the new virus variant have been mild so far and can be treated at home.
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