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SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Sellers of imported iron ore in China slashed price offers furtheron Monday as weak demand continued to weigh on spot steel prices,opening more downside room for iron ore after a fall of nearly 5percent last week. Some Chinese mills have delayed deliveries of iron ore shipmentsfrom miners, as appetite for the raw material from the world'sbiggest consumer continues to thin. Price offers for cargoes from Australia, Brazil, India and otherorigins fell for the fourth time in five days on Monday, slippingby as much as $2 per tonne, according to Chinese consultancyUmetal. "There's an oversupply of iron ore, and on the other side you havevery weak demand. It's very ugly out there," said a Singapore-basedphysical iron ore trader. Supplies of iron ore from top exporters Australia and Brazil arebouncing back after disruptions due to bad weather in the firstquarter. But the increased supply is coming at a time when Chinesedemand is slowing along with its overall economy. Prices couldeventually be at risk of falling below $100 a tonne, traders say, alevel last seen in late 2009. Benchmark iron ore with 62-percent iron content .IO62-CNI=SI fell1.7 percent to $131.30 a tonne on Friday, a level last seen on Dec.19, 2011, based on data from Steel Index. The last time iron ore was in similar territory was last Octoberwhen the price fell to as low as $116.90, the weakest sinceDecember 2009, as soft steel demand forced Chinese mills to curboutput. "The ingredients are looking much worse this time given theoversupply, so I wouldn't rule out prices hitting $100 or evenbreaking $100," said the Singapore trader. Iron ore hit this year's high of $149.40 in mid-April as tradersbet on a seasonal uptick in steel demand in the current quarterthat never came. Top miner Vale, which is estimated to have sold 500,000-600,000tonnes of iron ore in the spot market last week, is selling another171,000 tonnes of 63.75-percent grade fines at a tender on Monday,traders said. "Everybody now expects prices to go further down. If I were a steelmill, I would just buy a small volume, or buy from port stockswhich are cheaper," said a trader in Shanghai. The sustained decline in steel prices has been fueling iron ore'sslump. The price of steel billet in the key Tangshan area in Hebeiprovince, China's top steel producing region, fell to 3,580 yuan($570) a tonne over the weekend, said the Shanghai trader, downmore than 200 yuan from late March. "Billet could fall another 10-20 yuan today, and this will put morepressure on the iron ore market," the Shanghai trader said. Construction of many high-speed railway projects across China, bigusers of steel, has almost stopped due to lack of funds, said aniron ore trader in the port city of Rizhao in China's Shandongprovince. The most-active rebar contract for October delivery on the ShanghaiFutures Exchange fell for a fifth straight week last week, withMonday's half a percent gain seen unlikely to be sustained. (Reporting by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Richard Pullin) SUBSCRIBE to Mineweb.com's free daily newsletter now. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Neon Rope Light , Motif Lamp for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Neon Rope Light.
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