A report in the China Securities Journal suggests that a number of major Chinese steelmakers have asked the country’s Premier, Wen Jiabao, to intervene in iron ore contract negotiations taking place between China’s steelmakers and the big three iron ore miners, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vale.
Leading officials of the China Iron & Steel Association and the heads of mills including Baosteel, Wuhan Iron & Steel, Anshan Iron & Steel and Hebei Iron & Steel, wrote to Mr Wen on Thursday asking him to take up the issue at a national level.
The miners are reportedly asking for a contract price rise of anything between 80 and 100 per cent, reflecting the current spot market prices. Last year, talks led by CISA failed to secure an agreement on benchmark prices. It is believed that Vale in particular wants an end to an annual contract price and a move to quarterly prices, while the chairman of Hebei Iron & Steel said on Thursday that many mills were now abandoning the traditional annual contracts in favour of deals starting on January 1.
Talks are now said to be on hold, with some sources suggesting that Vale had walked out of the talks.
Click here for an archive of stories on the 2010 iron ore benchmark talks.
No comments:
Post a Comment