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Benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China fell 4.2%, to $138.48 per tonne, the lowest since mid-March.

Futures in Dalian slipped 1.6% while steel rebar and hot-rolled coil declined in Shanghai.

At a meeting held Thursday, the Politburo reiterated its support for a lockdown-dependent approach to contain the virus.

That follows President Xi Jinping’s commitment last week to boost infrastructure construction to rescue economic growth, which has come under pressure from the nation’s covid strategy.

“The meeting held yesterday revolved mainly around epidemic control,” said Wei Ying, a ferrous analyst at China Industrial Futures.

“This indicates that restrictions will hold in the near future, which has sparked some concerns” about the impact on the economy.”

Meanwhile, post-holiday demand for the steelmaking ingredient has picked up only slightly, according to a note by Holly Futures. Virus-related lockdowns have slowed down the movement of iron ore shipments, while overall market demand faces great uncertainty from the spread of covid in China, it said.