The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has called for global opposition to the proposed merger or Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton’s Western Australia iron ore operations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The association said the merger is a threat to the global steel market, and endorsed the use of antimonopoly legislation – by China and other countries – to block it. Relations between CISA and the two mining giants have been strained following the detention of four Rio employees on allegations of commercial spying and bribery during the 2009 iron ore contract price talks. Those negotiations failed to reach a resolution and a senior executive at Baoshan Iron & Steel indicated the same might happen again in 2010, saying that a price rise was unlikely despite market expectations of a 10-20% hike. Meanwhile, Brazil’s Vale plans to build specialist shipping berths and distribution centers to reduce the cost of transporting iron ore to China.
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