China said it would not accept the 19% increase in iron ore contract prices agreed by German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp and Brazilian mining company CVRD. Despite having yet to receive official news of the deal, Qi Xiangdong, deputy director of the China Iron and Steel Association, told Reuters that such a price increase would be a non-starter with Beijing. The government threatened to force its steelmakers, who have the world's largest iron ore demands, to block ore imports if prices got too high, although it later appeared to accept a rise of around 10%. CVRD's rival iron ore suppliers Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton between them, the three companies account for 80% of all seaborne iron ore trade said they were still in negotiations with steel producers. Last year, Asia's leading producer Nippon Steel agreed a 71.5% price rise with CVRD.
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