Think the Japanese responded to our tender as per GJ's interview last October.
INTERVIEW-Japan's Mitsui to consider taking majority stakes in major projects
TOKYO, June 16Mon Jun 16, 2014 12:26pm BST
(Reuters) - Mitsui & Co will consider taking majority stakes in major projects rather than just participating as a minority owner, its top official said, a strategic shift the Japanese trader is eyeing to preserve growth in its profit margins.
Mitsui President Masami Iijima also told Reuters in an interview on Monday that its iron ore investments would still be profitable even if prices fell 20-30 percent from their current weak levels and that it was mulling adding on output of the raw material.
IRON ORE STRATEGY Mitsui, which has a 15 percent stake in the holding company of Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, had an annual output of 51 million tonnes of iron ore last business year to March 31 through its equity holdings in mines.
Iijima said Mitsui is on track to boost its output to 69 million tonnes by 2020, despite the recent drop in prices.
Iron ore futures in China slid to a fresh record low on Friday as a supply glut smothered a market faced with slower steel demand, likely piling more pressure on spot iron ore prices which have fallen to their weakest since September 2012. "Iron ore supply would stay easy through 2020 due to a series of expansion projects by majors like Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP, but it will become tight again after 2020 without fresh investments or expansions," Iijima said, pointing to a rise in global crude steel output and closure of high-cost mines.
"We aim to boost equity production of iron ore while maintaining or raising reserves by replacing the current ones with underdeveloped ones."
