China industry group reports 'difficult' iron ore talks

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Dec 2009

The China Iron and Steel Association has said global miners want a 20-30 percent hike in 2010 iron ore prices, complicating the tough ongoing negotiations, state media said on Wednesday. The talks were "quite difficult" as prices of all natural resources including iron ore were on the rise, the China Securities Journal quoted association vice chairman Luo Bingsheng as saying.
The industry group, which led China's failed talks with global miners for 2009 ore prices, will step up efforts to cut the number of Chinese ore importers and "unify" import prices, Luo said.
"(If we) can unify the action of domestic mills, we can further increase our voice in the talks," Luo was quoted as saying.
Officials at the association were not immediately available for comment on the report.
China's relations with the world's biggest miners - BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale - remain tainted by the arrest in July of four Rio Tinto employees in Shanghai for alleged industrial espionage.
The four - Australian passport-holder Stern Hu and three Chinese - are still in detention pending trial.
Earlier this month, the semi-official industry group said it firmly opposed BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto's planned iron ore joint venture, branding it a "monopoly in disguise".
The joint venture was announced by Rio in June, along with a $US15.2 billion ($A17.01 billion) rights issue, as it called off a huge cash injection from Chinese state firm Chinalco. The two companies signed a binding agreement this month.

Source: Fairfax Digital