BEIJING - Prices of Dalian and Singapore futures dropped on Monday amid lacklustre sentiment as traders feared inclement weather across China could disrupt construction activities and the prospects of government intervention following the price surge last week.
Rainstorm and a drastic drop in temperature levels are likely to affect many Chinese regions, according to the National Meteorological Centre.
A wide-range inclement weather is also expected to impact downstream steel consumption.
Moreover, fears of China's state planner issuing another warning to rein in iron ore prices undermined overall sentiment, analysts said.
China's National Development and Reform Commision issued several warnings on iron ore hoarding and speculative activities in the past month on rising prices.
The most-traded May iron ore futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) DCIOcv1 ended the morning trading session 1.43% lower at 896 yuan ($130.02)a tonne, following a nearly 5% jump in the past week.
On the Singapore Exchange, benchmark May iron ore SZZFK3 lost 3.45% to $121 a tonne by 0336 GMT, after posting a 5.1% jump last week.
Other steelmaking raw materials - coking coal and coke - similarly weakened, with the former DJMcv1 dropping 2.68% and the latter DCJcv1 losing 2.53%.
Prices of steel futures also showed signs of weakening across the board.
Rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 shed 2.32% to 4,078 yuan a tonne, hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 dropped 2.05%, wire rod SWRcv1 tumbled 2.98% and stainless steel SHSScv1 dipped 0.34%.