Friday May 25, 2018
    Home > News > Economy
    Text:| Print|

    Mining giants blamed for soaring iron prices

    2013-02-01 09:10 Global Times     Web Editor: qindexing comment

    The recent hike in prices of imported iron ore has been driven by dominant global mining firms which have made improper moves to support prices, Zhang Changfu, vice president and secretary-general of the CISA, said Thursday, calling for attention and efforts from relevant Chinese government departments to help maintain market fairness.

    Between late December 2012 and the middle of January, the cost of imported iron ore soared from $115 per ton to $159 per ton, up about 40 percent, translating into an increased cost of 422 yuan ($67.82) for domestic firms to produce a ton of steel, he said.

    During the period, steel prices in the domestic market only rose by around 106 yuan per ton.

    "This will certainly harm domestic steel makers' profits," Zhang told the Global Times, noting that in particular one large purchase of iron ore by an international mining firm had boosted prices just as they were starting to trend downward.

    Zhang did not mention the name of the firm he was talking about, but on January 16, BHP Billiton, the world's third largest iron ore mining firm, bought 100,000 tons of the raw material, which market watchers believe was intended to prevent a drop in prices.

    Chinese steel mills have been replenishing their stock because of rising demand, and this has also contributed to the rise in iron ore prices, said Xu

    Xiangchun, information director with industry consultancy mysteel.com.

    But the main reason for the rise was the "unusual actions" by the iron ore mining companies, Xu noted.

    Comments (0)

    Copyright ©1999-2011 Chinanews.com. All rights reserved.
    Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.

    主站蜘蛛池模板: 张家港市| 巴里| 元朗区| 永福县| 抚松县| 吐鲁番市| 黄浦区| 成都市| 罗江县| 香格里拉县| 衡东县| 安远县| 永修县| 龙江县| 潜山县| 阿拉善右旗| 图们市| 灌云县| 洮南市| 英超| 略阳县| 招远市| 望都县| 资中县| 东平县| 家居| 遂溪县| 多伦县| 清镇市| 滦南县| 兰考县| 溧阳市| 邵东县| 广宗县| 普陀区| 来安县| 诸城市| 台山市| 普格县| 简阳市| 酉阳|