Rio settles iron ore deals with Asia firms

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-7-2  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

GLOBAL miner Rio Tinto said yesterday in a Web notice that it had finalized deals with all of its Asian customers for iron ore price talks in line with what China's Baosteel agreed on.

Deliveries from Hamersley Iron, Robe River and Hope Downs for the contract year that started on April 1 would see lump prices soar 96.5 percent and fines prices rise 79.88 percent, said the notice.

Sam Walsh, chief executive of Rio Tinto's Iron Ore group, said these agreements were a strong endorsement of the settlement reached last week and reflected global demand for the products.

Shanghai-based Umetal.com analyst Hu Kai told Xinhua yesterday that global steel prices began to surge from 2007, which further pushed up iron ore prices.

Baosteel, China's largest iron and steel mill, said on June 23 that it had agreed with the Australian mining group on a price jump of up to 96.5 percent for iron ore in 2008, nearly double that of 2007.

Baosteel agreed in February on a 65-percent price rise for iron ore from Brazilian miner Vale.

Rio and BHP Billiton then demanded a "freight premium," claiming that it costs less to ship iron ore from Australia to China.