The president of one of China’s largest steelmakers said on Wednesday that a deal on benchmark iron ore prices is expected to be reached by April.
"I am not taking part in the negotiations but a result should come out by April 1 -- it is almost mid-year and if a price hasn't come out by then, it isn't normal," Zhang Xiaogang said.
Speaking on the sidelines of China’s latest parliamentary session, Mr Zhang said that while he did not know how much more steel mills would be paying for their iron ore, it was likely to be higher than the 20 per cent expected at the end of last year.
"What a normal price should be is hard to say, but you shouldn't have one side making losses and the other making excess profits," Mr Zhang said, "All steel firms feel the same way -- whether it is Nippon Steel, JFE, Posco, Thyssen Krupp, Mittal, US Steel or us -- we all feel deeply dissatisfied, but we have no option (but to accept the price rises)." He added that whether or not the benchmark system would survive would depend on the outcome of this year’s talks.
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