Reuters
Manila
Shanghai rebar steel futures dropped another 1.5 percent on Friday, helping stretch losses in iron ore futures in Dalian.
Iron ore for immediate delivery to China´s Tianjin port gained 0.5 percent to $41.50 a tonne on Thursday, according to The Steel Index.
Additional iron ore supply from Australia´s Roy Hill mine and Vale´s S11D project in Brazil "will worsen the oversupplied situation amid China´s steel production slowdown", said Helen Lau, analyst at Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong.
China´s crude steel output dropped 2.3 percent to 803.8 million tonnes in 2015, the first yearly fall since 1981, as producers responded to shrinking demand.
The world´s No. 2 economy grew at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century in 2015. The most-traded May rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed down 1.5 percent at 1,814 yuan ($275.88) a tonne.