China’s iron ore futures dipped by nearly 1 percent on Thursday, as emergency anti-pollution measures in northern China dampened demand for steelmaking raw materials. The Ministry of Ecology and Environment said late on Wednesday that it expects a bout of severe smog to blanket regions in northern China, including top steelmaking province Hebei and coal mining hub Shanxi, from Jan. 10-14. Some cities have issued smog alerts and asked heavy industry to restrict production, particularly the use of sinter plants, during the forecast pollution period. Sintering is a highly pollutive process that melts iron ore before it is put into a blast furnace. The most-active iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell 0.9 percent to 508 yuan ($74.50) a tonne as of […]