Crude oil futures closed lower today. As of 15:04 CST today, WTI oil and Brent oil fell 0.37% and 0.32% respectively. As of 15:05 today, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.22%.

Last week, the iron ore prices rose 1-5 yuan/mt in Tangshan, Qian'an and Qianxi county in Hebei province; climbed 1-5 yuan/mt in Chaoyang, Beipiao, and Jianping city in western Liaoning province; and fell 1-5 yuan/mt in east China.

Crude oil prices rose today. As of 15:17 CST, WTI oil and Brent oil rose 0.01% and 0.03% respectively. The U.S. dollar had fallen for three consecutive days under the influence of the Fed’s interest rate hike suspension and rose 0.12% as of 15:19 CST today.

Crude oil rose slightly today, with WTI and Brent oil up 0.31% and 0.27% respectively as of 15:16 CST. As of 15:16, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.28%.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) conducted a seven-day reverse repurchase of 2 billion yuan and lowered the rate by 10 basis points to 1.9% on June 13, the first reduction in the rate since August 2022. 

Crude oil rose slightly today. As of 15:11 CST, WTI oil and Brent oil rose 0.13% and 0.28% respectively. The U.S. Department of Energy’s additional Strategic Petroleum Reserve Purchase supported oil prices.

As of 15:08 CST, WTI oil and Brent oil rose 0.55% and 0.79% respectively.

Iron ore and concentrate imports totalled 96.18 million mt in May 2023, a month-on-month growth of 5.73 million mt or 6.3%. YTD imports through May stood at 4.81 trillion mt, a year-on-year growth of 7.7%. The increase in iron ore imports in May was mainly due to the weakening of seasonal disruptions and the gradual recovery of overseas shipments.

Imports of steel scrap totalled 230,000 mt in the first four months of 2023, up 204% YoY. With the liberalisation of imports of raw materials for secondary steel from January 1, 2021, steel scrap imports have been increasing steadily. Yet, China's steel scrap imports are at an extremely low level mainly because there are only five customs commodity codes corresponding to the types of steel scrap that can be imported. The import standards for specification and impurity content are stringent and some details are not clearly defined.

Due to lack of market confidence and steel mills cutting output, rebar inventory continued to fall rapidly in May.