* Ferrous futures on Dalian, Shanghai exchanges fall
* Stainless steel down as much as 2.5% in early trade
* China's Q1 GDP seen to log first decline on record
BEIJING, April 16 (Reuters) - China's iron ore futures
dropped in early trade on Thursday, after a poll showed the
country's GDP growth for the March quarter is expected to
decline for the first time in nearly three decades.
Analysts anticipate China's gross domestic product to have
shrunk 6.5% in the first three months compared with a year
earlier knocked by the coronavirus outbreak, according to a
Reuters poll. Beijing will unveil the key economic indicators on Friday.
Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange DCIOcv1 ,
for September delivery, fell 0.5% to 605 yuan ($85.51) per tonne
as of 0245 GMT.
Stainless steel futures' SHSScv1 contract for June, which
closed at over a seven-week high on Wednesday, logged the
biggest loss as it plunged as much as 2.5% in early trade to
12,675 yuan per tonne.
"The long-term impact on consumption brought by the
coronavirus cannot be neglected," Jinrui Futures wrote in a
note, adding that despite traders' restocking demand, it's still
hard to see "obvious growth" in short term.
FUNDAMENTALS
* October contract of construction rebar SRBcv1 on the
Shanghai Futures Exchange edged up 0.4% to 3,392 yuan a tonne
after China posted higher new home prices for March.
* New home prices in China returned to growth in March after
stalling for the first time in five years in February,
suggesting some pent-up demand as the impact from the
coronavirus outbreak on the property market gradually fades.
* Hot-rolled coil SHSScv1 , used in the manufacturing
sector, rose 0.8% to 3,233 yuan a tonne.
* Dalian coking coal DJMcv1 rose 0.4% to 1,136 yuan per
tonne while Dalian coke DCJcv1 fell 0.6% to 1,712 yuan a
tonne.
* More than 2 million people have been reported to be
infected by the novel coronavirus globally and more than 136,000
have died, according to a Reuters tally. * The Kazakh iron ore unit of mining and metals conglomerate
Eurasian Resources Group (ERG) is increasing exports to China to
offset declining demand in the former Soviet Union, the company
said on Wednesday. ($1 = 7.0760 yuan)
($1 = 7.0754 Chinese yuan renminbi)