* Spot offers for Indian iron ore rise for third day
* Steel mills continue to buy ore on strong steel demand
* Imported iron ore stockpiles at Chinese ports at record
* Fortescue sees Q3 shipments up at 12-12.5 million tonnes
By Ruby Lian and Manolo Serapio Jr
SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, July 15 (Reuters) - Spot iron ore prices extended gains on Friday, driving a key global index to near two-month peaks, as steel mills in top producer China continued to restock the raw material in anticipation of strong steel output and demand.
Spot offers for Indian 63.5/63-grade ore rose for a third day, by another dollar to $182-$184 a tonne, including freight, said Chinese consultancy Umetal.
Quotes for Australian 62-grade Newman iron ore fines remained firm at $178-$180 a tonne.
"Steel mills have increased their buying in the face of strong steel prices and output, and miners also held on to their offers and wanted to push them higher," said an iron ore trader in eastern China's Shandong province.
China is accelerating construction of 10 million social housing units for low-income earners, helping prices of construction steel products like rebar sustain gains since late June.
"The price of steel is the major swing factor that is supporting iron ore prices, but I am concerned steel prices may temporarily lose momentum next week which could also cap gains in iron ore prices," the trader added.
The most active October rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose 1.3 percent for the week, gaining for a second straight week after rising to more than two-month highs on Wednesday. It closed little changed at 4,871 yuan ($754) a tonne on Friday.
Rising stockpiles of imported iron ore at major Chinese ports also suggest purchases could ease.
Imported iron ore inventories at major Chinese ports hit a record 94.04 mln tonnes in the week ending July 15, data from industry consultancy Mysteel said on Friday.
Strong demand from top consumer China pushed up iron ore output of Fortescue Metals Group , Australia's third-largest iron ore miner, by 8 percent to 12.38 million tonnes in the June quarter from a year ago.
Total shipments in the June quarter, which typically lag production, rose 6 percent to 11.5 million tonnes and are expected to rise further to between 12 million and 12.5 million tonnes in the current quarter.
Key indexes for iron ore with 62 percent iron, based on spot transactions in China and used by global miners Vale and Rio Tinto in setting quarterly contract prices, rose further on Thursday.
Platts 62-percent iron ore index IODBZ00-PLT edged up half a dollar to $176.25 a tonne, its highest since May 20.
A similar index by Metal Bulletin .IO62-CNO=MB gained 75 cents to $173.07, a level not seen since June 17. while The Steel Index's benchmark .IO62-CNI=SI was unchanged at $174.10.
Iron ore swaps <0#SGXIOS:> mostly fell after recent sharp gains.
The Singapore Exchange-cleared July contract fell 42 cents to $173 a tonne, August dipped 75 cents to $171 and September declined $1.17 to $169.33.
($1 = 6.458 Chinese yuan) sourced Reuters
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