Rio Tinto, the world's second-biggest miner of iron ore, acknowledged publicly for the first time that price negotiations with Chinese steel mills had ceased, underlining suppliers' dwindling support for a system that is cracking apart.
Sam Walsh, head of Rio's iron ore division, said that Rio was no longer negotiating with China's steelmakers – the world's biggest – to agree a benchmark iron ore price for the contract year that began in April 2009.
That should not affect Rio's iron ore sales to China, the driver of its revenues this year. The company is selling ore to China's top mills on a “provisional” contract price, even as it sells more iron ore on the developing spot market.
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