Global mining companies are pushing steelmakers to accept a record price for iron ore for the 2010-11 annual contracts, risking a repetition of last year's stand-off with China.
The move comes as miners Vale of Brazil and Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton start their so-called “benchmark” annual talks with steel companies in Japan, led by Nippon Steel. The talks with Chinese mills, led by Baosteel, have yet to start.
If the miners get their way, prices could be settled at, or even above, $90 a tonne – the record level at which the 2008-09 annual contracts were settled – sharply higher than the $60 agreed for 2009-10, the Financial Times has learnt.