It reiterated its latest guidance to close the deal by year-end, pending US approvals.

Despite these lukewarm indicators, steel producers who service the construction end markets were positive in their quarterly earnings.

Liberty said it “is not idling the facility,” and will resume operations when markets recover.

“We see infrastructure for instance is still growing strongly in China,” he said, adding that manufacturing is also “performing pretty well in China”.

Queensland could also complicate a deal.

Imports of iron-ore by China, the world's biggest buyer, in 2024 are expected to be around 1.17-billion to 1.18-billion metric tons, similar to last year's 1.18-billion tons, a senior official of miner Vale said on Wednesday.

This new route, operated by 12 vessels with a capacity of 14,000 standard containers each, will run on a weekly basis.

With efforts from both sides, the factory gradually emerged from its crisis.