Government stays out of iron talks

Baosteel is to resume price negotiations with miners over this year’s price for iron ore after the government said it would leave talks to the industry and not interfere, state media reported. An earlier government statement accused international suppliers of seeking to make �unreasonable monopoly profits� after prices rose by 71.5% last year, and threatened to block imports if the price paid was too high. Traditionally the pricing talks are between the three largest iron ore miners – CVRD of Brazil and BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto of Australia � and European and Japanese steel mills. This year China’s largest steel company Baosteel is representing the Chinese industry.