Spot iron ore prices have shed 19 percent so far this month in a sell-off largely fueled by slower construction steel demand in China, the world’s biggest buyer of imported iron ore at around 400 million tonnes a year.
In Europe, a more important market for Vale than Rio, steel markets have taken a knock given uncertainty surrounding the region’s debt crisis.
Growth of Europe’s steel production will slow in 2012 along with activity in the steel-using sectors, Eurofer, the European steel producers association, has forecast.
via Iron ore crash – macrobusiness.com.au | macrobusiness.com.au.