Iron ore prices will be negotiated next month

Iron ore prices will be negotiated next month

The steel industry anxiously awaits next month's negotiations over the 2006 iron ore prices. Whether mining giants like Australia's BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto and Brazil's CVRD will increase the iron ore prices or not depends on the condition of spot market, said one industry insider. The current iron ore price in the spot market is higher than that of the contract market. However, steelmakers in China, the Americas, Europe and Japan think that the supply and demand situation for iron ore in 2006 will bring prices down to a reasonable level. The extremely high iron ore price is not helpful to the development of Chinese iron and steel industry. It cannot be understated that the world iron and steel industry will feel the repercussions if the Chinese market makes losses. Qi Xiangdong, deputy secretary general of CISA, indicated that the seminar held earlier this week in Qingdao paved the way for the future development of the 2006 iron ore price trend. He disclosed that CISA is now discussing with Chinese steelmakers about how they intend to participate in the negotiations this year. Last year, Baosteel acted as a representative for the entire industry, but there is talk that this year CISA may organize a delegation. Qi added that the work team, established by CISA to solve issues related to imported iron ore, will play its part in the upcoming iron ore price negotiations. SteelOrbis Shanghai