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SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Iron ore futures closed lower on Thursday, weighed down by rising tariffs on Chinese steel, although solid demand for the steelmaking ingredient in top consumer China cushioned the downward trend.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) ended daytime trading down 0.8% at 805 yuan (US$ 110.77) a metric tonne.
Benchmark iron ore for March on the Singapore Exchange was trading down 0.93% at US$104.9 a tonne.
The outlook for Chinese steel exports is uncertain as more countries impose tariffs on Chinese steel products.
Following US President Donald Trump's decision earlier this month to impose tariffs of 25% on all steel products, Vietnam has announced a temporary anti-dumping duty on Chinese steel, with South Korea provisionally deciding to impose tariffs of up to 38% on imports of Chinese steel sheets.
The EU is also considering restrictions on steel imports following Trump's tariff threats.
Still, daily crude steel output in mid-February among mills member of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) hit a seven-month high of 2.15 million tonnes, Chinese consultancy Mysteel said, citing CISA statistics.
In addition, imported iron ore sinter fines stocks fell by 3.8% on the week, indicating higher consumption of the steel raw material, Mysteel said in a separate note.
Steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose. Rebar rose nearly 0.5%, hot-rolled coil rose 0.35%, wire rod rose 0.54% and stainless steel gained 0.69%.
Other steelmaking ingredients in the DCE gained ground, with coking coal and coke rising 0.87% and 0.75%, respectively.
($1 = 7.2675 Chinese yuan)
Reporting by Michele Pek; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
