By Michele Pek
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Iron ore futures prices weakened for a third consecutive session on Wednesday, weighed down by dour outlook for Chinese steel exports and heightened trade tensions between the U.S. and top consumer China.
The most-traded May iron ore contract on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) closed 0.98% lower to finish at 812 yuan ($111.86) a metric ton.
Earlier in the session, the contract hit 803 yuan to its lowest level since February 18.
The benchmark March iron ore on the Singapore Exchange was 0.22% lower at $105.8 a ton, as of 0708 GMT.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed a memorandum last week aiming to step up restrictions on Chinese investment in strategic areas, causing Chinese equities to stumble on Tuesday.
Due to additional levies imposed by Vietnam and South Korea, China's direct steel exports will be affected, putting pressure on prices, said Chinese consultancy Hexun Futures in a note.
Vietnam announced last week that it will impose a temporary anti-dumping levy on some steel products from China, while South Korea has provisionally imposed tariffs on Chinese steel plate imports.
Steel mills have resumed production, increasing demand for raw material replenishment, added Hexun.
In China, daily crude steel production of key steel enterprises logged a monthly increase of 0.8% to 2.151 million tons, while daily average steel production grew 4.2% on-month to 2.037 million tons, said Chinese consultancy Lange Steel, citing statistics from the China Iron and Steel Industry Association.
Most steel benchmarks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange gained ground. Rebar was up 1.24%, hot-rolled coil rose 1.18%, wire rod ticked up 0.57%, while stainless steel dipped 0.3%.
"Expectations of a new round of government mandated capacity reductions are rising in China over the last few months," Citi analysts said in a note earlier this week.
Other steelmaking ingredients on the DCE posted marginal losses, with coking coal and coke down 0.55% and 0.95%, respectively.
($1 = 7.2593 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Michele Pek; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)