SteelOrbis Shanghai
Secretary General of the China Iron and Steel Association, Shan Shanghua, said on January 6 that, as regards the proposal to stockpile steel, the CISA has no interest in this issue, given that China's steel production capacity is as high as 500 million mt. In addition, Mr. Shan stated that, as steel products can be roughly divided into 20 categories, this makes it impossible to build up stockpiles of all products, and it would not yield any result to stockpile small volumes of specific steel products. Finally, compared to copper and aluminum, steel is apt to rust and cannot be stored for a long time.
On a separate issue, the CISA official stated that the base prices in iron ore negotiations between China and the three mining giants would be different because the ore quality, shipping freight costs and China's specific needs of the miners are not the same. Mr. Shan also emphasized that the iron ore settlement date should start from January 1, 2009 for the coming fiscal year, and that the three mining giants would have to accept this term.