iron ore price settlement

BHP Billiton Declines to Comment on Iron Ore Price Settlement

By Madelene Pearson

Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, declined to comment whether it had settled iron ore prices after China's Baosteel Group Corp. and Cia. Vale do Rio Doce agreed to raise them 9.5 percent next year.

The agreement between Rio de Janeiro-based Vale and Baosteel, China's No. 1 steelmaker, marks the first time the industry's benchmark has been set with a Chinese steelmaker. Historically, the first mill to settle with Vale, BHP or Rio Tinto Group sets the price for the global steel industry.

The price increase is the fifth straight rise for the key steelmaking ingredient as soaring demand and limited mine growth push prices to records. BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale control two- thirds of the global iron-ore trade.

``We don't comment on the price negotiations until the majority of our contracts are settled, so at this stage we don't have anything we can say,'' Samantha Evans, BHP spokeswoman said over the phone in Melbourne.

Rio Tinto would not comment on the reported price increase, Ian Head, spokesman for the company said in Melbourne.

To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on [email protected]