Brazil's Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner, has reached supply contracts with 38 small Chinese steel mills for a combined volume of more than 50 million tonnes for this year, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.
None of the steel mills was state-owned, the newspaper said, and so are not members of the China Iron and Steel Association, the national industry group which has said its members would not conclude supply deals before price terms have been reached in protracted negotiations with Australian miners.
The deal gives Vale an advantage in securing supply volume in China, the world's largest steel-making nation, the newspaper said. Analysts expect China to import about 600 million tonnes of iron ore this year.
Vale has said it would not participate in this year's iron ore price negotiations and would not set price terms with Asian clients until talks were concluded between steel mills and Vale's chief Australian rivals, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
Officials from CISA, which is representing major Chinese steel mills in this year's iron ore price negotiations, were not immediately available to comment.
The association has insisted on price cuts of at least 40 percent from last year, rejecting a 33 percent decline agreed to with miners by other Asian majors Nippon Steel, JFE Holdings Inc and POSCO.
Source: Reuters
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