Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, which account for more than 70 per cent of the world's seaborne traded ore, privately acknowledge that annual contract prices are likely to drop for the first time in seven years. But they are delaying negotiations because they believe ore demand will improve in the next few months.
Traders and analysts said the miners were hoping for a cut of 20 per cent or less after securing a record 85 per cent increase in the 2008-09 negotiations.
Shen Wenrong, chairman of Jiangsu Shagang Group, China's largest private steelmaker, said last week that annual iron ore prices would fall by at least 40-50 per cent in 2009, echoing a consensus view at Chinese steel mills.
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