News Room - Steel Industry

Posted on 28 May 2009

China may have to buy iron at spot prices

Australian iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd said Chinese steelmakers may have to pay spot prices for iron ore if they do not accept the one-third price cut that Japanese steel companies agreed to this week.

 

"If they don't take the Rio price settlement, they'll confine themselves to spot prices for all time," Fortescue Metals Chief Executive Andrew Forrest said at a business conference on Thursday.

 

Miner Rio Tinto Ltd this week agreed to cut key iron ore prices by 33 percent to Japanese steelmakers, a benchmark that China's steelmakers have rejected.