Just before the Chinese Government suggested it would not accept what it indicated was overpriced iron ore, one of the country's leading steel mills called on Australian miners to drop the price of their product by 5-10 US dollars a tonne during the approaching round of negotiations. Xiaofei Cui, managing director of Sinosteel Corporation's Australian arm, made the suggestion during a recent iron ore and steel conference in Western Australia. He said last year's iron ore price increase of 71 percent had resulted in an increase in steel production costs of around 280 renminbi - or 35 US dollars/t. This, he explained, had seen the steel industry's profit plummet by some 30 percent.
展开▼
