Iron ore price, page-7555

And the discount had pretty much peaked at 40% in the first quarter. Also, the AUD was up near 80c. Net cost of sales would be lower thanks mainly to the much lower AUD even though oil prices have increased since then.

News in recent days regarding allowing companies in the north of China to determine their output curbs have yet to filter through to the prices of lower iron ore grades as yet. It really is significant that a regulated curb that the market believed would be between 30% and 50% will no longer apply. Steel prices have come off so it makes much more financial sense to maximise profitability by going with a much lower cost input. Given most mills have considerable capacity at their disposal in any case, it should not affect productivity materially by electing to go with a slightly lower grade.