Under the pressure of escalating tariff measures against Chinese steel and an increase in iron ore imports into China, iron ore futures prices fell by more than 1% on Thursday.

The most traded iron ore contract in May on the Chinese Dalian Stock Exchange (DCE) ended the morning session down 1.05% to 803 yuan (110.48 dollars) per ton. The reference iron ore on the Singapore stock exchange in March was trading down 1.4% to 104.4 dollars per ton. Australian shipments increased significantly and those from Brazil also rebounded

The steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange have moved sideways. Rebar fell by 0.03% and hot-rolled coils fell by nearly 0.1%, while wire rod traded flat and stainless steel gained 0.57%. Other steel-making ingredients at the DCE showed modest losses, with coking coal and coke falling by 0.41% and 0.36% respectively