BEIJING — China has sent a joint research team to the Dalian Commodity Exchange to strengthen the regulation of spot and futures markets for iron ore to curb price hikes, the country's top economic planner said on Feb 28.

The team, consisting of personnel from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Market Regulation, met with the commodity exchange to analyze recent operations of the iron ore market and investigate irregular transactions.

They agreed on stepping up day-to-day supervision of the spot and futures markets for iron ore, maintain market order and keep prices stable.

Since the beginning of this year, the iron ore market has seen an overall balance of supply and demand, but abnormal price surges of iron ore have been noted and the port inventory has continued to climb, prompting the NDRC to stress the regulation and oversight of iron ore prices on multiple occasions.