Iron ore prices are now down approximately 57% from their May highs, with the sell-off accelerating heading out of the weekend. At one point on Monday, prices had shed another 11.5% in Singapore trading before making a limited recovery to close out the day.

As with most industrial metals, the iron ore market sinks or swims on demand out of China. Iron is a key input in the steelmaking process, with roughly 1.5 tonnes of iron ore required to making one tonne of steel. China accounted for some 54% of global steel production in 2019, and some two-thirds of all shipped iron ore ended up in China in 2021.