Iron ore miners feel China steelmakers’ anger
China’s steelmakers took an angry swipe on Thursday at the main iron ore miners, claiming that the recent pricing talks for the commodity had “breached the rules”.
China reluctantly accepted the 19 per cent increase in prices for 2006 this week. However, a statement released by the steel industry left open the prospect that it could still try to gain a better deal from CVRD of Brazil, the biggest iron ore supplier.
The statement underlined the bad feeling that remains between China and the iron ore miners, especially CVRD, after a bruising and unusually political round of negotiations.
The surge in commodities prices has encouraged China to try to use its rising purchasing power to limit its costs, and the government had hoped to turn this year’s iron ore talks into a test case for the new strategy.
Iron ore is one of the few commodities with an annual pricing negotiation, which is between the biggest steelmakers in Asia and Europe and the three largest miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto of Australia, and CVRD.
China, which initially called for a cut in prices, was accused of politicising the talks when it was revealed the government had threatened to ban imports of iron ore if they exceeded a certain price.
The stakes were raised even higher when the Ministry of Commerce put out a note accusing the miners of making “unreasonable monopoly profits”.
However, China’s position was undermined in May when steelmakers globally accepted a 19 per cent rise. The Chinese were particularly angered by CVRD, which they claimed had publicly revealed the two sides’ negotiating positions.
“The 2006 price talks contained some actions that breached the rules, which we regret,” said the statement.
It was co-signed by the China Iron and Steel Association and the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, and added that there was an “obvious price difference” between the Australian and Brazilian iron ore imported to China for which there should be a “reasonable solution”.
Although it did not give any further details, analysts said this was a reference to the higher shipping costs for Brazilian ore given the longer distance, and could imply the Chinese still hoped to win a discount from CVRD. In the negotiations last year, BHP tried to argue that Asian customers should pay more for its ore than Brazil’s because of the cheaper shipping costs, but Japanese and Chinese mills rejected the argument.
“The Chinese played a clumsy hand this year and now they are trying to salvage something from the mess,” said a Shanghai-based analyst.
铁矿石涨价 中国“余怒未消”
中
国钢铁生产商昨天愤怒指责主要铁矿石生产商，称最近的铁矿石定价谈判“违背谈判规则”。
中国本周很不情愿地接受了2006年19%的铁矿石涨价。但中国钢铁业发表的一份声明显示，中国仍有可能要求从最大的铁矿石供应商巴西淡水河谷(CVRD)那里获得更优惠的交易。
该声明突出表明，中国与铁矿石供应商进行了一轮有损关系、而且异常具有政治意味的谈判后，双方之间，尤其是中国方面与淡水河谷之间仍然没有好感。
大宗商品价格的飙升，促使中国试图利用其日益上升的购买力来限制成本，政府原本希望将今年的铁矿石谈判作为这一新策略的案例。
铁矿石是每年进行定价谈判的少数大宗商品之一，谈判在亚洲和欧洲最大的钢铁生产商和三大采矿企业之间展开，这三家矿业巨擘是澳大利亚的必和必拓(BHP Billiton)、力拓(Rio Tinto)和巴西的淡水河谷。
中国最初要求降价，但后来据透露，如果铁矿石价格超过了某一价位，中国政府威胁将禁止铁矿石进口，中国政府因而被指责将价格谈判政治化。
当中国商务部发表一份报告，指责铁矿石供应商获取“不合理的垄断利润”时，谈判赌注似乎进一步加大了。
然而，中国的谈判地位在5月份遭到破坏，当时全球各地的钢铁生产商接受了19%的涨价。中方尤其被淡水河谷激怒，他们宣称淡水河谷公开透露了双方的谈判立场。
“2006年度铁矿石价格谈判中，出现了一些违背谈判规则的行为，我们对此表示遗憾，”声明中这样称。
中国钢铁工业协会(China Iron and Steel Association)和中国五矿化工进出口商会(China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters)联合签发了这份声明。声明还补充说，进口澳大利亚矿同巴西矿比较，实际到岸价存在“明显的价差”，下一步供需双方应当研究“合理的解决办法”。
虽然声明没有提出任何进一步的细节，但分析师表示，这指的是巴西铁矿石由于距离更远，运输成本较高，并可能意味着，中国仍希望赢得淡水河谷的折扣。在去年的谈判中，必和必拓试图争辩说，亚洲钢铁厂家应为铁矿石支付比巴西矿石更高的价格，因为其运输成本更低，但日本和中国炼钢厂拒绝了这一论点。
“中方今年手法笨拙，现在他们试图从这一团糟中抢救点什么出来，”一位驻上海的分析师表示。
