Chinese iron futures dropped on Monday after persistently soft housing data underlined the economic weakness in the top consumer of the steelmaking commodity.

China’s new home prices fell for a fourth straight month in December, according to government data released at the weekend.

That comes just ahead of figures due on Tuesday likely to show that the world’s No. 2 economy grew 7.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the slowest since the depths of the global financial crisis.

Iron ore for May delivery on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was down 0.6 percent at 504 yuan ($81) a tonne by 0308 GMT, but off a session low of 497 yuan. The February iron ore contract on the Singapore Exchange dropped 0.8 percent to $67.49 a tonne.

“Considering the current weakness in the steel market, I think some mills could cut capacity in the near term and that means they might reduce their purchase volume for raw material,” said an iron ore trader in China’s eastern Shandong province.

“We haven’t been buying new cargoes,” he said, adding his company has held on to 150,000 tonnes of iron ore stocks at ports for almost two months now.

Benchmark 62-percent grade iron ore for immediate delivery to China’s Tianjin port .IO62-CNI=SI was unchanged at $68 a tonne on Friday, not far above a 5-1/2-year low of $65.60 reached in late December, according to the Steel Index.

Iron ore dropped for a second straight week last week, losing 2.6 percent.

The prospect of delays in iron ore shipments from top supplier Australia where ports might get hit by a cyclone could lend some support to prices.

Australia’s Pilbara Ports Authority said it had started evacuation of ships at the Port Hedland and Dampier iron ore ports due to the cyclone threat.