| The TEX Report Topics < Iron Ore > | |
| HOME >> Topics List >> November, 2006 >> 20 (Mon) |
| Pre-Talks For 2007 Iron Ore Prices To Begin 4th Week Of November In Asia |
| = Baoshan initial speaker, followed by Japanese mills in the 5th week |
|
Ahead of full-scale negotiations to come in December, preliminary talks on 2007 benchmark iron ore prices will take place in China, South Korea and Japan in the fourth and fifth week of November. Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Rio Doce Asia will be present at the pre-talks with the steel mills of each country to exchange opinion and information on supply and demand situation, etc. The kick-off in Japan will be on or after November 28. Besides, Baoshan Iron & Steel as well as POSCO will be successfully starting talks. Baoshan is likely to get the talks under way in the week starting November 20 representing 16 Chinese steel companies. While Western financial institutions and securities companies are keen to predict the outcome of the December-starting negotiations, some of them sustain that they will end up with price reduction watching current vigorous iron ore production in China. As a matter of fact production in the country keeps on growing, even by an enormous 100 million tons a year for the last couple of years, which is the principal reason for their claiming that tight supply has been eased off. Those who consider otherwise are predicting that new prices will be with an increase of around 10 percent, since (1) steel production in China continues growing unabated, and (2) shortage of iron ore will result even if a most conservative scenario is given to the production in China. |
| last modified : Fri 24 Nov, 2006 [11:24] |
