BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Nov 15 （Reuters） - Iron ore offers remained almost steady on Monday after a key index surged to a six-month high, with further rises likely to stem from falling steel prices.
The Steel Index iron ore benchmark rose $0.8 to 161.8 per tonne on Friday, while the benchmark May contract of rebar futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SRBK1 fell quickly to about 4,630 yuan （$697.70） per tonne in afternoon trading.
"The iron ore market has become a little more stable today, while it is likely prices will soften later this week amid expectations for a second policy rate rise," said an iron ore trader in eastern China's Rizhao city.
He added that many steel mills had already rebuilt stocks for near-future production over recent weeks.
Spot offers for Indian ore with a 63.5 percent iron content remained unchanged at $167-169 per tonne cost & freight on Monday, industry consultancy Mysteel said.
Mysteel said inventories of imported ore at Chinese steel mills stood at an average of 44 days of supply, up from 41 days at the end of October.
Traders were encouraged by a surge in steel product prices across China last week, and suggested it could provide momentum to push Indian iron ore beyond $170 per tonne for the first time since May.
The November contract cleared by the Singapore Exchange SGXIOc1 slid 1.3 percent to $156.7 per tonne and the December contract SGXIOc2 fell 2 percent to $156.6 per tonne.
Many were banking on further supply problems in coming months as mills are forced to shut down as part of central government efforts to meet emissions and energy efficiency targets for 2010.
However, after reaching a 16-month high last week, Chinese spot steel prices began to ease on Friday and fell further on Monday.
Mysteel said the price of construction steel, as markets opened on Monday, stood at 4,480-4,490 yuan per tonne, a fall of 10 yuan compared with the previous trading day.
（Reporting by David Stanway and Ruby Lian; Editing by Chris Lewis）
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