Iron ore is not a scarce resource but the ore price dominates steel price and a rising steel price – in turn – is a fundamental constraint on the rate of global economic recovery. Production of iron ore is dominated by just 3 players – Rio Tinto, Vale and BHP Billiton – and they are now under investigation by the European Commission and German authorities for building cartels.
The CEO of Thyssen-Krupp accuses them and speculators for jeopardising the economic recovery.
This is being compounded by taxation and the opportunistic Australian Resource Super Profits Tax would seem to be a case of shooting oneself in the foot !! A case of greed overcoming common sense perhaps?
