beijing jan 13 reuters  chinese iron ore futures dipped at market close on thursday after gaining more than 2 boosted by falling shipments from major miners as concerns remain about shortterm demand for the steelmaking ingredient exports of iron ore from australia and brazil stood at 2235 million tonnes for the week ended jan 9 down 561 million tonnes compared with the week earlier according to data from mysteel consultancy however despite molten iron output gradually recovering on easing environmental controls supporting spot market prices theres still worries on steel output curbs during the beijing winter olympics galaxy futures wrote in a note spot prices of iron ore with 62 iron content for delivery to china rose 3 to 132 per tonne on wednesday according to steelhome consultancy benchmark iron ore futures on the dalian commodity exchange  for may delivery rose as much as 24 to 749 yuan 11774 per tonne and retreated to end 07 lower at 726 yuan a tonne other steelmaking ingredients also stepped back from gains during the morning session with coking coal dipping 09 to 2305 yuan per tonne and coke futures closing down 19 at 3106 yuan a tonne the most active steel rebar contract on the shanghai futures exchange closed up 07 at 4633 yuan per tonne hot rolled coils futures  used in cars and home appliances inched up 02 to 4739 yuan a tonne chinas auto sales last year grew for the first time since 2017 and are expected to perform better in 2022 according to an industry association read more reporting by min zhang in beijing and enrico dela cruz in manila editing by subhranshu sahu and shounak dasgupta