BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Spot imports will account for 83 percent of China's iron ore imports this year, the China Iron and Steel Association said in a half-year report, while decrying the "disorderly" market that it blames for rising prices.
Chinese mills have not yet settled on an annual price for term iron ore imports, meaning most is being imported on a spot or indexed basis.
Steel production soared in the first half of the year, while imports also rose as Chinese fixed-asset investment responded to a government stimulus package, said the report, issued on the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
In the report, CISA reiterated its intent to limit imports to end-users or to trading companies that can prove they have already contracted an end-user, to fight "speculative" imports.
CISA took over as lead negotiator for the Chinese industry this year in annual price talks with Australian miners Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale, but has failed to settle due to its insistence on wringing a better deal than the 33 percent drop negotiated by Japanese and South Korean mills.
Ore prices have risen substantially since the Japanese and South Korean settlement.
CISA is just "clinging to the feet of the Buddha," a Chinese steel analyst was cited as saying in an International Finance News article on the CISA report, using a Chinese idiom for desperately snatching any solution that presents itself.
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Business Tianjin Magazine - Business English Magazine in China
Spot imports to make up 83% China ore imports-CISA
Written by Reuters Wednesday, 05 August 2009 13:57
China appeals WTO ruling against media restrictions
Written by Xinhua Wednesday, 23 September 2009 16:57
GENEVA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- China lodged an appeal on Tuesday over a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruling which said its regulations on the import and distribution of books and audio-visual products are not in compliance with world trade rules.
The WTO's seven-member Appellate Body will now have two to three months to reinvestigate the U.S.-China dispute, and it can uphold, modify or reverse the panel ruling, which was issued last month, the Chinese mission to the world trade body said.
The United States brought the case to the global trade watchdog in April, 2007, saying that China was not providing enough access for imports of publications and audio-visual products. The case involves publications such as books and newspapers, audio and video products including CDs, DVDs and games, and music downloading services.
A WTO expert panel issued its ruling on Aug. 12, largely upholding the U.S. allegations, and it called on China to revise its import regulations so as to bring them in line with WTO rules and China's obligations in the organization.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry had expressed regret over the panel ruling, saying that "China has always fulfilled its obligations on market access for publications and the channels for foreign publications, films and audio-visual products entering Chinese market are extremely open."
China has imported approximately 500,000 titles of publications of all kinds every year since joining the WTO in 2001, as promised in its entry agreement, the ministry said.
E. Asia, S. America under tsunami warning after Japan quake
Friday, 11 March 2011 16:52
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A tsunami warning has been issued for areas across East Asia and the western coast of South America following a huge earthquake that hit Japan on Friday, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.
Among the countries for which a tsunami warning is in effect are: Russia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.
The biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-meter tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses and cars.
At least six people were killed, five in Fukushima prefecture north of the capital, Tokyo, where four million homes were without power, and one in eastern Tochigi prefecture, media said. A hotel collapsed in the city of Sendai and people were feared buried in the rubble.
hirty international search and rescue teams stand ready to go to Japan to provide assistance following a major earthquake, the United Nations said on Friday.
"We stand ready to assist as usual in such cases," Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA) told Reuters in Geneva. "Thirty international search and rescue teams are on alert and monitoring the situation and stand ready to assist if necessary."
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China draft anti-monopoly rules aim at foreign price deals
Written by Reuters Thursday, 13 August 2009 16:52
BEIJING (Reuters) - Draft anti-monopoly rules issued by China propose restrictions on price agreements that could apply to deals reached by foreign companies beyond the country's borders, potentially in mining and other sectors.
The draft rules were issued for public comment by the National Development and Reform Commission (www.ndrc.gov.cn), the nation's top economic planning body, late on Wednesday, and they build on China's anti-monopoly law passed in 2008.
The draft document makes clear that Chinese regulators could put foreign multi-nationals, which sell in China, in their sights when enforcing the proposed regulations against price-fixing deals.
"These regulations apply to monopolistic pricing behavior outside the People's Republic of China that produces an exclusionary or restrictive impact on domestic market competion," the Chinese-language draft states.
The rules flesh out provisions already in China's anti-monopoly law. But they appeared at a time when Beijing is in contentious negotiations with foreign iron ore producers over sales agreements.
Mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are at the heart of those negotiations. In June they proposed merging their iron ore operations in Western Australia's Pilbara region.
That joint venture needs to be cleared by regulators in Europe and in China, offering Beijing an opportunity to wield its anti-monopoly law.
The Chinese steel industry is adamantly opposed to the BHP-Rio joint venture, as are their counterparts in Europe and Japan, because they fear giving more pricing power to the two mining giants.
The proposed Chinese rules could apply to "monopolistic price agreements" whereby "operators in a competitive relationship" fix or alter prices, restrict the extent of price shifts or "use a uniform price as the basis for negotiations with a third party."
They could also apply to restrictions on sales volumes used to fix or alter prices.
The regulations are open for public comment up to September 6. They could punish deals found to be illegal by confiscating earnings and imposing fines of up to 10 percent of the offender's sales in the previous year.
China restates easy-credit stance
Written by The Wall Street Journal Thursday, 06 August 2009 10:34
BEIJING -- China's central bank reaffirmed its intention to continue easy-credit policies, citing numerous risks to early signs of a recovery in the global economy.
"China's economy is now in a critical period of stabilization and recovery, and maintaining stable and rapid economic growth is still the most important task we face," the People's Bank of China said in its quarterly monetary-policy report. "Although the general trend of stabilization in the [global] economy has been basically established, the process of recovery may be slow and tortuous."
With global demand for China's exports still weak, a solid rebound depends on domestic consumption and investment, the central bank said. Chinese companies may be more willing to ramp up production now that inventories have been reduced.
Sentiment among private-sector businesses remains weak, it said, and consumers' worries about future income could crimp spending. "The foundation of the economic recovery is not yet stable," it said, echoing other agencies' recent comments.
The central bank also cited numerous uncertainties to the outlook for the global economy, including changes in the U.S. dollar's exchange rate, commodity prices, inflation expectations and protectionism. "These factors could, in combination with inevitable shocks to the economy and financial markets, test market confidence and affect the progress of the recovery," it said.
Given such an uncertain external environment, the central bank said the drive to maintain domestic growth requires continuing the policies that led to a 33% surge in bank lending this year. It didn't rule out minor adjustments within that broad direction, and indeed has engineered some shifts to domestic money-market conditions in recent weeks.
"We will continue to unswervingly implement the appropriately loose monetary policy, and carry out fine-tuning with market tools according to changes in the domestic and international economic trends and prices," the report said.
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