The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) criticized on Monday
the world's leading iron ore supplier for its announcement on
pricing while international negotiations were on going.
A spokesman for supplier CVRD of Brazil announced on March 29
that it was to raise its 2006 iron ore price by 24 percent over
that of last year.
The CISA regards the move as being, "extremely ill-considered
and in violation of the rules of the international iron ore price
negotiations."
An official with the CISA, who refused to give his name, told
Xinhua that the iron ore price proposed by CVRD was
"unacceptable."
He said following the international rules of price negotiation,
information should only be released to the media after at least one
ore provider had come to a pricing agreement with a plant.
CVRD's public announcement was totally against the accepted
international way of doing business, said the official.
As of March 15, China's 18 main ports had 38.9 million tons of
imported iron ore in store and the major steel corporations held
more than 25 million tons.
(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2006)