Australian trade minister urges China to keep out of iron ore talks

Trade Minister Simon Crean gave assurances Australia would also keep away from the fraught process in which steelmakers aim to strike annual contracts with Anglo-Australian firms BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, and Brazil's Vale.

“We won't be getting involved. I've made the point to China and I repeat the point, we recognize China's market economy status,” Crean told reporters in Canberra.

“All we ask in return is that it act in accordance with market principles, not seek to get government involved.”

Crean's comments follow a report that more than 10 top Chinese steel mills had asked Premier Wen Jiabao to make the iron ore benchmark price talks “a matter of national importance”.

Steel industry leaders warned the government they cannot agree to the 90 percent price hikes demanded by the miners and that such a rise could hurt national interests, the China Securities Journal reported Saturday.

“The domestic steel companies can no longer bear such high quotes of iron ore and have been forced to hike steel prices to pass on the costs,” an unnamed source told the publication.

“Escalating the solution of the iron ore imports issue to the national level can avoid internal friction and protect the overall interest of China's steel industry,” it added.

Crean said this year's iron ore negotiations were “always going to be robust” given the strong demand for the key ingredient used in auto production, ship building and other industries, but government intervention would not help.

He said while the issue of intervention had previously been raised by the Chinese, “In the recent visits I have been there, it doesn't get raised”.

“The truth is, market principles say when there's more demand than there is supply that will have an impact on price,” Crean added.

Pressure is on China's steelmakers to strike a deal in this year's annual price talks after they failed to reach an agreement with BHP, Rio and Vale for the first time in decades in 2009.

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