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SYDNEY: Australia on Monday urged China not to get involved in difficult iron ore price negotiations with global mining giants after steel mills lobbied Beijing to intervene.
Trade Minister Simon Crean gave assurances that Australia would also stay out of the fraught process in which steelmakers aim to strike annual contracts with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Brazil's Vale.
"We won't be getting involved. I have made the point to China and I repeat the point, we recognise China's market economy status," Crean told reporters in Canberra.
"All we ask in return is that it act in accordance with market principles, not seek to get government involved."
Crean's comments follow a state media report that 10 top Chinese steel mills had asked Premier Wen Jiabao to make the iron ore benchmark price talks "a matter of national importance".
Dow Jones Newswires said that Chinese steel industry leaders have warned the government they cannot agree to the 90 per cent price hikes demanded by the miners.
In February, Crean warned Chinese consumers should expect price increases in times of surging demand, saying the government would not cap rising coal and iron ore prices but leave the market to set new benchmark prices.
"The government is not going to interfere in terms of market negotiations," Crean said at the time.
"And for countries like China that have sought recognition as a market economy, which we were prepared to give, well, I say to them in return 'act like one'."
- AFP/sc
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