The most-traded iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for January 2020 delivery, fell as much as 5.4% to 628 yuan ($89.11) a tonne.

Cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium are expected to see increasing demand from the EV trade in the years ahead.

China customs is due to report its July rare earth export data on Thursday.

The remote Outback region of northern Australia would seem an unlikely outpost in the simmering global trade war, but the mining hot spot may help solve a critical issue for the U.S.

With the markets more focused now on the escalation of the trade war triggered by Trump’s tweet on Thursday, the stock market plunged while gold rallied.

Overall, the iron ore market is experiencing a recovery in supply and inventories, and Chinese demand so far is holding up.

Worries about demand for steel products also weighed on iron ore.