While Rio Tinto, the world's leading supplier, announced solid shipments of iron ore in the fourth quarter, contracts iron ore futures dropped for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday. Concerns about safety inspections have taken a toll on the Chinese market.

The most traded May iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) in China closed the morning session in fell by 0.25% to 784.5 yuan ($112.63) per metric ton.

The reference iron ore price for February on the Singapore Stock Exchange lost 0.74% to 103.2 dollars per ton at 03:49 GMT, after reaching the lowest level since December 17 at $103 earlier today.

The steel reference prices on the Stock Exchange Shanghai futures have declined.

The rebars have lost 0.42%, hot-rolled coils lost 0.21%, wire rod softened by 0.17 and the stainless steel remained unchanged