Brazilian miner Vale, to which the China Iron and Steel Association had turned to secure better prices on iron ore contracts, said it would wait for rivals BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to settle contracts before settling its own prices with China, the Wall Street Journal reported. "This time from the very beginning, our position is to follow the market leaders," said Fabio Barbosa, chief financial officer at Vale. "We are awaiting to see how the negotiations unfold with the Australians." BHP has settled some of its contracts in China, but Rio Tinto has not yet reached agreements with Chinese steelmakers. Vale said it supported a benchmark system for setting prices, which would see miners and steelmakers agreeing on one price per year. However, BHP’s decision to settle contracts through a combination of annual, quarterly, spot and index pricing indicates that the Chinese market does not have a defined price practice, Barbosa said.