China May Have Internally Agreed On 33% Iron Ore Price Cut-SBB
June 05 2009 - 5:32AM
Dow Jones News
Chinese steel industry officials have agreed among themselves to
accept a 33% iron ore price cut compared with last year's
benchmark, the Steel Business Briefing said in a report Friday,
citing unnamed sources.
China has publicly insisted to date that it would only accept a
reduction of at least 40% on term prices retroactive to April
1.
Steel Business Briefing, a London-based trade publication, said
it understood from "a number of sources" that the China Iron and
Steel Association and Baosteel Group Corp. have agreed internally
to accept terms for 2009-10 ore similar to those struck between Rio
Tinto PLC (RTP) and Asian mills last week.
Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese mills accepted a 33% cut from Rio
Tinto, but China is still negotiating with mining majors Rio Tinto,
BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Vale SA (VALE).
Association and Baosteel officials couldn't be reached for
comment on the report. Recent comments haven't signaled any change
of stance.
-By Chuin-Wei Yap and Juan Chen, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588
5848; chuin-wei.yap@dowjones.com, juan.chen@dowjones.com