Reuters reported that China's rebar futures extended losses amid thin trade on Thursday as investors shrugged off declines in iron ore inventories at ports in China

The most traded May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange shed 0.3 percent to end the day at CNY 2,579 per tonne

Iron ore futures for May delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange edged up 0.2 percent to CNY 512

According to data provider Mysteel, stockpiles of iron ore at major Chinese ports fell for the sixth consecutive week to reach 98.24 million tonnes as of Jan. 4, raising hopes that a slowdown in imports would relieve a supply glut. But analysts said that the falling inventory rate was not due to any recovery in underlying demand from steel mills or their desire to restock, and prices were not likely to rise.

Hu Xiaodong, an analyst at Nanhua Futures in the eastern coastal city of Hangzhou said "Steel mills are buying less iron ore and the price has fallen continuously since last year, which has also caused some iron ore trading firms to be shut out the market. As a result, the amount of inventories at ports went down but I don't expect the price to rise dramatically before the Chinese New Year.”