“If Comrade Mao Zedong was still alive, he wouldn't put up with this kind of thinking,” Wu Xichun, honorary chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association said this week about newspaper stories on the country's annual iron ore price talks.
“So don't ask me anything about the talks,” he told reporters. “Nobody from Cisa will tell you anything about it. You'd better not waste your time.”
Mr Wu's outburst illustrates that this year's annual iron ore negotiations could turn out to be as sensitive and difficult as last year's when Chinese steelmakers clashed repeatedly with the three big global mining groups – Vale of Brazil and Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – over the price of the main raw material for steelmaking.