Dalian iron ore pulls back from last session jump Spot 62% iron...

• Dalian iron ore pulls back from last session jump
• Spot 62% iron ore rose to $96.2 per tonne on Wednesday
• Iron ore shipments to China from Port Hedland rose in Dec

BEIJING, Jan 9 (Reuters) - China's iron ore futures fell on Thursday, retreating from a surge in the last session after supply concerns from top exporter Australia eased.

Benchmark iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, with the most traded May contract, slipped as much as 0.66% in morning trade to 672.5 yuan ($97.12) per tonne. It settled at 680 yuan on Wednesday, the highest close since Aug.2.

The drop came as big miner Rio Tinto (RIO) clarified market talks on a fire that broke out at Cape Lambert, which stoked concerns of possible supply disruptions.

"A rubber conveyor belt on a shiploader at Cape Lambert caught fire. It is being replaced and we expect the shiploader to be back up in the next 24 hours," a spokesperson from Rio Tinto told Reuters.

Supply worries further eased as data showed on Thursday that iron ore shipments in December to China from Australia's Port Hedland terminal, the world's biggest iron ore port, rose more than 12% compared with a month earlier.

Other steelmaking ingredients were mixed, with Dalian coking coal DJMcv1 gaining 0.92% to 1,212.5 yuan per tonne by 0229 GMT, while Dalian coke DCJcv1 slid 0.37% to 1,899.5 yuan per tonne.

FUNDAMENTALS

• Steel rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBcv1 , for May 2020 delivery, edged up 0.08% to 3,605 yuan per tonne.
• Futures of hot-rolled coil SHHCcv1 , used in cars and home appliances, rose 0.17% to 3,633 yuan per tonne.
• Shanghai stainless steel futures SHSSc1 , with front-month of February contract, increased 0.18% to 14,240 yuan per tonne.
• China's producer prices in December fell 0.5% from a year earlier, official data showed on Thursday, making the sixth month of contraction as manufacturers struggled with weak demand and the U.S.-Sino trade war.
• Oil prices rose on Thursday, recouping some of the heavy losses from the previous session as the market rebalanced after Washington and Tehran looked to defuse a potential Middle East crisis.
• China issued import quotas for another 3,180 tonnes of steel scrap, 26,566 tonnes of copper scrap and 7,544 tonnes of aluminium scrap on Wednesday.
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($1 = 6.9297 Chinese yuan renminbi)