Iron ore shortage expected to continue
Speaking to the attendants, Peter Poppinga of Brazilian miner CVRD told attendees of the raw materials conference in Moscow on Nov 17th that the global iron ore market would continue to experience a shortage situation over the next couple of years. The predicted significant increase in steel consumption in the coming years will strain iron ore supplies despite miners' rush to expand their output. This will certainly play a huge role in the negotiations over the 2006 iron ore prices. In a related issue, Andrey Pupchenko told conference attendees that Chinese consumption of ferroalloys is expected to increase next year. However, the increase in consumption is expected to be less than that of previous year. He suggests that prices of manganese alloys will increase slightly in the first quarter, but may show a decrease in the form of a market correction in the second quarter.