Big Australian BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) has come out in defense of the recent surge in iron ore prices refuting China's charges of manipulation of the iron ore market.
"We aim to improve transparency by increasing liquidity in the spot market," BHP said in statement.
"We sell significant volumes on a spot basis, including through widely accessible trading platforms, irrespective of the iron ore price."
Earlier, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had chided the top three iron ore miners including Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto (ASX:RTO), BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale accusing them and some traders of manipulating the iron ore market to push up the price by about 80% in the last 6 months.
"The three major miners and some traders have delayed shipments and held back stocks to control supplies in order to send a fake market signal that there was a supply shortage," NDRC said in a statement.
"Some miners are also tying to push the price higher by buying at the spot market. The pricing mechanism is not reasonable too.
The major overseas miners signed long term contracts with Chinese steel mills stating a certain quantity of iron ore without stating a price," the NRDC statement said.
The NDRC statement follows as the high raw material costs have hurt Chinese steel makers, with iron ore prices rallying to more that US$150 a tone earlier this year, following deep slump in prices last September, when prices were quoted at $90 a tone.
BHP said it operated its assets at full capacity and that it produced record volumes between July and December 2012.
China, which is the world's largest iron ore importer, accounts for about 60% of global iron ore demand.
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Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.* Reported by Proactive Investors 15 minutes ago.
"We aim to improve transparency by increasing liquidity in the spot market," BHP said in statement.
"We sell significant volumes on a spot basis, including through widely accessible trading platforms, irrespective of the iron ore price."
Earlier, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had chided the top three iron ore miners including Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto (ASX:RTO), BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale accusing them and some traders of manipulating the iron ore market to push up the price by about 80% in the last 6 months.
"The three major miners and some traders have delayed shipments and held back stocks to control supplies in order to send a fake market signal that there was a supply shortage," NDRC said in a statement.
"Some miners are also tying to push the price higher by buying at the spot market. The pricing mechanism is not reasonable too.
The major overseas miners signed long term contracts with Chinese steel mills stating a certain quantity of iron ore without stating a price," the NRDC statement said.
The NDRC statement follows as the high raw material costs have hurt Chinese steel makers, with iron ore prices rallying to more that US$150 a tone earlier this year, following deep slump in prices last September, when prices were quoted at $90 a tone.
BHP said it operated its assets at full capacity and that it produced record volumes between July and December 2012.
China, which is the world's largest iron ore importer, accounts for about 60% of global iron ore demand.
*
Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.* Reported by Proactive Investors 15 minutes ago.