Rio Tinto not concerned about Chinese ore-buying company -executive
MELBOURNE - Rio Tinto is not concerned about China's plans to centralise iron-ore purchases and has strong ties with its customers, the Australia CEO for the global miner said on Friday.
Kellie Parker's comments were in response to questions from the media about China Mineral Resources Group, a state-owned agency registered last month to centralise the import of raw materials required by its steelmaking industry.
The plans are aimed at gaining more clout with suppliers like Rio, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals Group, Vale VALE and others over pricing.
"How the Chinese are organising themselves - they want some certainty about price and around what does that look like for them. And they're very exposed to that price. So they're organising themselves," Parker told reporters after speaking at the Melbourne Mining Club.
"Of course the short-term price hurts them, so they want some certainty - as we want on our input products as well. So not concerned, but certainly working with them," she said.
Parker said the company has good relationships with its customers and shareholders in China.
"We'd certainly like to meet them face to face when borders come down," she added.
China is exposed to international iron ore prices as it must import nearly 80% of its annual consumption, a big share of it coming from Australia.
But a diplomatic spat between Australia and China over the pandemic has hurt relations, and increased Beijing's concerns over resource security. The tensions have since eased, according to media reports.
"I think the other thing we have very much noticed in business is the thawing of the relationship between the two countries," Parker said.
She said it was up to the two governments to work on those ties.
"But we are very appreciative of that thawing relationship so we can find new ways to work together," she added.
Comments
The
functionality
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation