On April 15, China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) vice chairman Luo Bingsheng stated that the three iron ore mining giants have not been negotiating with China in the normal way, and, in fact, that the traditional iron ore negotiations are nonexistent. He said that the iron ore producers are fixing their price unilaterally and giving quotations to Chinese customers, while the Chinese steelmakers can either accept the price or stop purchasing.
Mr. Luo stated, "The situation is that the three mining giants are using their monopolistic positions to force steelmakers to accept the price. If they do not accept, they will be punished. This is an absolute monopoly."
The three main supplier are observed to be carrying out negotiations on a one-to-one basis with steelmakers, with import volumes and prices being discussed separately. This replaces the previous negotiations between the big three miners and a group representative of the 16 main Chinese steelmakers.
In this context, the CISA is putting more energy into regulating China's iron ore import orders. The CISA has called on China's Ministry of Commerce to investigate the monopolistic behavior of the three miners and has called on domestic steelmakers reduce or stop importing iron ore with below 60 percent iron content and to stop importing from the three main miners.