by Chris Becker

Here are July 31 iron ore prices:

It’s all about rebar at the moment, with futures moving to a five year high on the back of production curbs as the pollution controls severely restrict output.

More from Reuters, as another major city issues an edict:

The city of Changzhou in Jiangsu, China’s No. 2 steelmaking province, has issued a draft plan ordering steel mills as well as copper smelters, chemical makers and cement producers to shut down or cut production by as much as 50 percent by Aug. 3 at the latest.

It’s the latest city to impose restrictions for environmental reasons, with Tangshan cutting emissions for six weeks during summer, while most industrial plants in Xuzhou remain shut.

The construction steel product gained almost 10 percent this month, the most since November.

Average daily steel output by members of industry group China Iron and Steel Association stood at 1.96 million tonnes on July 11-20, down 19,200 tonnes from the first 10 days of July, the group said on its website.

“Steel production is further impacted by environmental protection and total steel inventory at traders and mills is at a five-year low,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

Stockpiles of rebar at Chinese traders fell to the lowest since January at 4.09 million tonnes last week, data compiled by consultancy SteelHome showed.

Daily iron ore price update (all about rebar)