| The TEX Report / Topics | |
| [ Topics List / January, 2005 / Thursday, 06 ] |
| *2005 Iron Ore Price Talks To Restart Jan. 12 |
| = Heated negotiations over price markup supposed to finally take place |
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The negotiations for 2005 iron ore prices have been scheduled to restart January 12 after precursory adjustments. Japanese steelmakers of Nippon Steel, JFE Steel, Sumitomo Metals, Kobe Steel and Nisshin Steel will have talks with Australian suppliers, Hamersley Iron, BHP Billiton and Robe River, and Brazilian supplier represented by Rio Doce Asia. Two rounds in all of hard negotiations took place last year, where the suppliers presumably indicated, though qualitatively, an unprecedented price markup in terms of per-ton prices instead of conventional per-unit basis. Against this, the Japanese side is reported to have strongly expressed its inability to accept it throughout the two-round talks. Japanese blast furnace mills are taking appropriate measures vis-a-vis raw material price hikes, such as effecting raw material-related investments and entering into long-term supply contracts, thereby reducing the procurement cost in the product prices to the best they can. The price talks to start on January 12 fall on the third round, whereby heated discussions over concrete price markup percentage will be made between the parties supposedly. |
| last modified : Wed 12 January, 2005 [10:01] |
