The price of iron ore has again hit a six-year low as investors wait for positive demand signals out of China and, potentially, fresh stimulus from Beijing.

At the end of the latest offshore session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US57.60 a tonne, down 0.9 per cent from its previous close of $US58.10 a tonne.

The closing number is the weakest seen since the first half of 2009 as the red session undid all the gains made since the commodity first dropped below $US58 a tonne last week. Its previous six-year low was set last Wednesday at $US57.70 a tonne.

The minor recovery had largely been driven by bargain-hunting as well as hopes for stimulus in China. However, with little in the way of data to analyse, traders appear to have become a bit nervous once again as the demand situation remains murky.

The likely lacklustre demand growth, coupled with recent confirmation big miners such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto won't be scaling back production plans, is expected to see an oversupply situation remain in effect through until at least the end of the year.

"We are not clear coming into the new year in China what the demand situation is like - we probably won't know for a while," Westpac's chief economist Justin Smirk said earlier this week.

"In the near-term iron ore prices can continue to push lower before we see something better towards the end of this year or, more likely, 2016."

Raising concerns about the broader resources sector, Citigroup has echoed similar worries about demand in the near-term.

"China's economic transition and the inability of other emerging markets to pick up the slack are driving slower demand growth across the commodities complex," analysts Ivan Szpakowski and Ed Morse wrote in a note overnight Australian time, according to Bloomberg.

"The extent of slowdown is likely to vary by commodity," the analysts added, noting iron ore would be among the hardest hit.

Their colleague, Citi iron ore and steel trading head Mark Lyons, last week warned of a near-term fall to $US50 a tonne.