The AJM annual global iron ore and steel forecast conference in Perth heard from industry players who say they are not panicked by the recent price slide.
Rio Tinto's head of iron ore Andrew Harding says the recent fall in iron ore prices - which were down 8.3 per cent yesterday alone to $US104.70 a metric ton - is due to a confluence of factors.
"We are looking at a credit squeeze that impacted the sane time as high stockpile levels in China," he told a conference in Perth.
"Sentiment has caused the rapid change as sentiment often does."
The negative sentiment that Mr Harding refers to was driven by a steep fall in Chinese export figures released over the weekend.
Mr Harding says he expects a good future for iron ore prices and profits.
"There will be short-term volatility, proof of which you are seeing this week," he said.
"The longer term is still intact and I can't see any indication that would change my mind, we still see good growth in the market through to the 2020s."
It is an opinion echoed by BHP Billiton, whose head of iron ore Jimmy Wilson gave a similarly optimistic view on Chinese demand.
"Our view that Chinese crude steel production is expected to peak at 1.1 billion tonnes, around 2025, is unchanged," he told the same conference.
Fat Prophets resources analyst David Lennox also shares that view, in part because Australia's iron ore production costs are amongst the world's cheapest, meaning other nations, including China itself, will scale back their output first if prices remain depressed.
"We do believe that China will probably, over the next couple of years, close in some of that production and look to import, and we very much think that that's what's going to drive growth of iron ore for Australian producers," he said.
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