Baosteel to lead China team in 2008 iron ore talks
16 July 2007
Baosteel, China's top iron and steel company, will continue its role of negotiating with major international iron ore suppliers on behalf of the country's producers for iron ore contracts in 2008, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) decided, according to China Securities News (in Chinese). China's iron ore imports for 2007 will be around 367 million tons, below the predicted figure of 400 million tons by overseas institutions, said Luo Bingsheng, the CISA's deputy chief. Luo alleged that overseas suppliers have the advantage of manipulating output volume and the top three iron ore producers have intentionally reduced their output recently to push up the market price in preparation for the talks.