Dalian iron ore futures claw back on falling shipments from miners

BEIJING (Reuters) -Benchmark iron ore futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange recovered from four consecutive sessions of losses on Tuesday, gaining as much as 1.6% on falling shipments from major suppliers.

Iron ore shipments that departed from Australia and Brazil stood at 23.54 million tonnes in the week ended Oct. 17, down 589,000 tonnes from the previous week, data from Mysteel consultancy showed.

BHP Group, the world's largest miner, posted a near 5% decline in first-quarter iron ore output. Last week, Rio Tinto downgraded its 2021 iron ore shipments forecast due to a tight labour market.

The most-traded iron ore contract on the Dalian exchange, for January delivery, closed up 0.1% at 707 yuan ($110.37) per tonne.

Spot prices of iron ore with 62% iron content for delivery to China, compiled by SteelHome consultancy, were unchanged at $123 per tonne on Monday from the previous session.

Other steelmaking ingredients extended gains on the Dalian bourse.

Coking coal jumped 0.9% to 3,729 yuan a tonne.

Coke futures surged as much as 8.2% to 4,550 yuan per tonne before closing 4.7% higher at 4,402 yuan.

Steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, used in construction sectors, rose 2.3% to 5,546 yuan a tonne.

Hot rolled coils increased 1.2% to 5,736 yuan per tonne.

Shanghai stainless steel futures fell 2.1% to 20,400 yuan a tonne.

($1 = 6.4057 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Subhranshu Sahu)