India November Iron-Ore Sales Rise as China Increases Purchases

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Monday, 29 December 2008

India’s iron-ore exports in November rose from the previous month as China, the world’s biggest buyer of the steelmaking raw material, increased purchases. Shipments were 8.74 million tons compared with 4.14 million tons in October, the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries, a group of iron-ore miners, said in a statement today. Chinese mills are buying more from India because they want suppliers such as BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group to cut prices, said R.K. Sharma, secretary general of the association.
“This is a way of putting pressure on Rio and BHP,” he said by telephone from New Delhi.
China may ask Rio Tinto and rivals to accept an 82 percent price cut after steel prices fell to 1994 levels, Shan Shanghua, secretary in general of the China Iron and Steel Association, said earlier this month.
Still, total exports in November were lower than last year’s 10.16 million tons, the association said.
India produced 160 million tons of iron ore in the year ended March 31. Two-thirds of the output was sold to China, according to the group.

As Adapted from Bloomberg