From Rhiannon Hoyle at marketwatch.com:
The slump iron ore prices to a near decade low is turning the spotlight back onto the world’s biggest miners and their strategy of churning out ore at record rates.
While prices have been weak for a while, fears of a global glut have deepened in recent days following evidence of slowing steel output in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the steelmaking ingredient, by far.
The price tumble comes at a bad time for major producers such as Anglo-Australian BHP Billiton Ltd. and Brazil’s Vale SA., which are counting the cost of a deadly dam failure at their jointly-owned iron ore mine in Brazil earlier in November. The two firms are the world’s top shippers of iron ore, along with Rio Tinto PLC.
Iron ore fell to $43.40 metric ton Tuesday, down 12% this month and far below the 2011 high above $191, according to data provider The Steel Index.
The slump raises questions over whether the determination of big producers to keep pumping record volumes into a falling market is working.
To continue reading: Iron ore crash turns up heat on miners
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