By Enrico Dela Cruz

MANILA (Reuters) - Chinese steel and iron ore prices edged up in early trade on Monday, with rebar rising for the first time in five sessions, buoyed by some restocking demand and optimism over U.S.-Sino trade talks.

The most-active construction steel rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was up 0.1 percent at 3,639 yuan ($538.68) a tonne by 0215 GMT. Hot rolled coil rose 0.6 percent to 3,590 yuan.

"There should be some (restocking going on). Steel traders and users usually do this restocking either before or after the holidays," said Richard Lu, an analyst at CRU in Beijing. Lunar New Year was celebrated in China earlier this month.

But to what extent such restocking will support demand is uncertain, Lu added.

"If that (demand) is strong, I think prices will not drop, but I don't think that is the case," Lu said.

"A lot of (market participants) are still away, and some people are taking additional holidays, so the market in general is still quiet compared with the normal level."

Lu said that the "positive outlook" for the U.S-China trade talks was also offering some support to steel prices.

Chinese state media on Saturday expressed cautious optimism over the trade talks between the United States and China, a day after President Xi Jinping said a week of discussions had produced "step-by-step" progress.

President Donald Trump received an update on the talks on Saturday and said on Twitter that they were "very productive".

The most traded iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange was up 0.2 percent at 626.5 yuan, after rising as much as 2.6 percent in early trade.

Coking coal dropped 1.2 percent to 1,257 yuan a tonne, while coke inched down 0.5 percent to 2,050 yuan.

Spot iron ore for delivery to China was steady at $87.80 a tonne on Friday, according to SteelHome consultancy.

(Reporting by Enrico dela Cruz; Editing by Joseph Radford)