China's iron ore hits three-week low, rebar up for fourth day

MANILA, Feb 26 (Reuters): Chinese iron ore futures hit their lowest in more than three weeks on Tuesday following news that Brazil's average daily exports of the steel-making raw material this month outpaced shipments a year earlier, despite last month's mine disaster.
The Chinese ferrous market, however, ended a volatile session with construction steel rebar extending its rise into a fourth session, as optimism over a possible trade deal between Beijing and Washington waned.
The most-traded iron ore contract for May delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange ended down 3.2 per cent at 593.5 yuan ($88.60) a ton, having fallen as much as 4.4 per cent earlier in the day.
The most-active construction steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange see-sawed between losses and gains, before closing 0.3 per cent higher at 3,736 yuan a ton, the highest in more than two weeks.
Although US President Donald Trump said on Monday he may soon sign a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping to end a trade war, China will not likely agree to the more important US demands such as a fundamental restructuring of its economy, said analyst Edward Meir of INTL FCStone Financial.
Hot rolled coil edged higher by 0.9 per cent to 3,744 yuan a tonne.
For the month to Feb. 22, Brazil exported 1.4 million tonnes of iron ore per business day on average, exceeding the average daily shipments of the mineral in February 2018 by 7.8 per cent, according to data from foreign trade agency Secex.