A government-led crackdown on pollution and excess steelmaking capacity in China has helped drive the price of iron ore close to $70 a tonne for the first time in almost six months.
The steelmaking ingredient has been largely immune from the macroeconomic jitters that have triggered heavy and persistent selling of industrial metals. While copper has dropped 15 per cent since the start of June on concerns that the China-US trade spat would hit global growth, iron ore has risen 9 per cent.
The raw material rose $1.95, or 2.9 per cent, to $69.50 a tonne on Tuesday, according to S&P Global Platts. Iron ore is a key source of income for Anglo-Australian miners Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton as well as Vale of Brazil.