Regal Group International: Rio Tinto says slowdown in demand for iron ore unlikely.

Sept. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Rio Tinto Group, the world’s second largest iron ore exporter has told Regal Group International at a recent press conference in Dalian that the company hasn’t seen any reduction in demand after China cut power supplies to some steel manufacturers in an attempt to meet energy efficiency targets.

“We haven’t seen any drop in our forward shipping schedule for the rest of this year,” Rio Tinto’s managing director of sales and marketing told reporters. “We’re running at full capacity.”

In a last ditch attempt to meet energy consumption targets the Chinese government recently began limiting power to steelmakers. China is the world’s biggest steel producer where last year the country’s demand for iron ore, which is used to make steel, increased to 628 million metric tons.

Rio Tinto informed Regal Group International that they expected China’s imports of iron ore to remain at the same levels as last year or possibly even increase.

The world’s top three iron ore exporters, Vale SA, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton earlier this year discarded the 40-year old custom of setting an annual price in favor of quarterly contracts, with prices strengthening in two out of three quarters.

“Our position for this fiscal year has been to give the quarterly pricing mechanism the chance to operate,” Rio Tinto told Regal Group International. “We’ll continue to talk with all our customers in Japan, Korea and China about what they think, what they see should evolve.”

# # #

Regal Group International is a full service commodity trading advisory offering services to traders ranging from the beginner, with no experience in the markets at all, to the advanced trader who is looking for an avenue to place fast efficient orders.