China’s top economic planners have pledged to crack down on the speculative trading of iron ore and stabilise the domestic market after “abnormal” price rises in recent weeks.
State planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), warned of “abnormal fluctuations”, as the price of the key steelmaking ingredient rose by nearly 60 per cent from mid-November to US$138 per tonne.
“The government analysis found that the demand and supply is overall stable and domestic stockpiles are at their highest in years. We found a speculative factor in the recent fast price hike,” an NDRC statement released on Friday said.