First it was Hong Kong, and now Shanghai. Vale, the world’s largest miner of iron ore, has told beyondbrics it has plans to be among the first foreign companies to list on the Shanghai stock exchange as it seeks to make the most of Asia’s voracious demand for commodities.

However, there is a crucial ‘but’ here. Cross-listing has not yet been approved in China and despite the Brazilians’ enthusiasm, there is a lot of groundwork to be done before that becomes a reality.

“The day that the Shanghai exchange opens up though, we’ll be in pole position,” said Guilherme Cavalcanti, Vale’s chief financial officer. “All our financial results are already released in Chinese, we’re ready,” he explained, adding that he believed a Shanghai listing could be approved in as little as two years.