Prices of steel and its raw materials iron ore and coking coal fell sharply in China on June 19, with investor sentiment shaken by an intensifying trade spat between China and the United States.
The selloff in China also hit the stock market, with the key index falling below the key 3,000-mark for the first time in nearly 21 months, as well as other commodities including rubber, as investors returned from a public holiday on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on June 18 to impose a 10% tariff on $200 billion of Chinese goods, prompting China's commerce ministry to warn that Beijing will take comprehensive measures to "fight back firmly".
The latest retaliatory exchange comes after Trump's Friday announcement that he would go ahead with a 25% duty on $50 billion worth of Chinese products, prompting Beijing to respond in kind.
"The prospect of further tariffs by China in retaliation to U.S. ones raised concerns that economic growth will be impacted," ANZ analysts said in a note.
The most actively traded rebar contract for October delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was down 2.3% at 3,792 yuan/t ($588/t) by 0216 GMT.
The fall in the construction steel product followed last week's rally that lifted the price to its strongest level since early September on June 15.
Steelmaking raw materials tumbled, with iron ore and coking coal falling more than 4% at one stage. Iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was last down 3.7% at 454.50 yuan/t, while coking coal lost 3.3% to 1,207.50 yuan/t.
However, some analysts say the tit-for-tat trade war between the world's top two economies will not cause much disruption in China's steel market, the world's biggest.
"Chinese steel prices are mainly decided by domestic demand and the impact of the trade dispute will be limited," analysts at CITIC Futures wrote in a note.
Chinese spot steel prices edged up 0.1% to 4,395.24 yuan/t on June 18, data showed.
(Writing by Tammy Yang Editing by Jessie Jia)
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