If the global economy is slowing, iron ore miners have not noticed. The producers of the steelmaking commodity are partying away. The Platts index-based price for the grade of ore used as a reference by the likes of Vale and Rio Tinto for fourth-quarter contracts is $175.63 per tonne, nary a percentage point below that for the third quarter. Miners’ move from an annual to a quarterly pricing policy has helped them to lock in a 30 per cent spot price rise over the past year. The lack of price weakness reflects the sources of demand: about three-quarters from emerging markets, mostly China. Chinese demand for iron ore will still increase smartly even if the growth rate of gross domestic product slows to 7 per cent.
如果說全球經濟成長正在放緩，鐵礦石供應商們並不曾注意到。這種用於鋼材生產的大宗商品的供應商正忙著狂歡。對於淡水河谷(Vale)和力拓(Rio Tinto)等礦商用作參照的那種品級的鐵礦石，第四季度普氏指數價格(Platts index-based price)爲每噸175.63美元，僅比第三季度下降不到1%。在過去一年中，由於定價政策由年度定價變成了季度定價，礦商們已將現貨價格漲幅中的30%收入囊中。價格持續堅挺，是對需求源頭的反映：約四分之三需求來自於新興市場，其中絕大部分來自中國。即便中國的GDP成長率降至7%，它對鐵礦石的需求成長仍將相當可觀。