The rise in iron prices continues for the third week

Iron ore futures extended gains today and are heading for a third weekly gain on renewed expectations that China's price war crackdown will pave the way for a new wave of reforms to reduce overcapacity in the steel sector.

The September iron ore contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) was traded at 766 yuan/ton ($106.82), up 2.07 percent at 06:03 GMT.

August iron ore traded on the Singapore Exchange rose 0.85 percent to $ 99.85 per ton.

Both contracts are up 4 percent so far this week.

The strengthening of the iron market was mainly driven by sentiment generated by environmental protection-related production restrictions in major steelmaking hub Tangshan and expectations for supply-side reforms, an analyst said.

The strengthening of iron ore prices occurred despite signs of weakening demand.

In DCE, coke and coke increased by 4.02 percent and 2.71 percent respectively.

Analysts noted that coke price experienced the most significant recovery due to its previous low valuation

Most steel reference prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose. Rebar gained 1.32 percent, hot-rolled coil gained 1.39 percent and wire rod gained 1.77 percent, while stainless steel fell 0.47 percent.