Dalian iron ore futures extended their losses into a sixth session on August 22 amid fresh reports about stepped-up steel production curbs in top producer China.

The most-traded January 2020 iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell as much as 1.7% to 583.50 yuan/t ($82.58/t), hovering near a 10-week low hit on August 21.

Wu'an city, a major production base for wire rod and medium plate in China's Hebei province, has decided to strengthen efforts to control air pollution by further restricting operations at nine steel mills over a 10-day period from August 22, sources said.

This follows a move by the top steelmaking city of Tangshan, also in Hebei, to deepen production cuts over a four-day period that ended on August 21.

The anti-pollution steel production curbs in China are widely expected to continue and may intensify ahead of the nation's National Day celebrations in early October.

Dalian iron ore has fallen more than 20% in August, on track for its worst month since March 2018, after eight consecutive months of gains, as concerns over supply eased while demand slowed.

Benchmark spot 62% iron ore for delivery to China slumped 5.5% on August 21 to $86.50/t, the lowest since March 29, data showed.

Reduced iron ore shipments to China after a Vale tailings dam disaster in Brazil in January and a cyclone in Australia, while Chinese steelmakers ramped up output, lifted spot prices of the raw material to five-year peaks recently.

The most-active construction steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.3% at 3,677 yuan/t by midday break.

Hot-rolled coil, steel used in cars and home appliances, rose 0.3% to 3,702 yuan/t.

Other steelmaking ingredients were flat, with coking coal at 1,327 yuan/t, while coke was at 1,950.5 yuan/t.

(Writing by Tian Zhang  Editing by Tammy Yang)
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