BHP's iron ore price up 99.7pc - 2010/04/07

(DJ Newswires) - BHP Billiton has secured a 99.7 per cent price rise from its Asian iron ore customers for the April-June quarter from a year ago, Macquarie Bank said today. Citing steel industry sources in Japan, the bank's London-based commodities team said that BHP's $US120.08 a tonne settlement for Pilbara fines iron ore "represents a massive 99.7 per cent rise over 2009 Japanese fiscal year contracts".

Macquarie said it understands that prices for BHP's "lump" iron ore were settled at approximately $US135/tonne for the March-June quarter, 88 per cent above 2009 levels. Late last month, BHP said it had reached agreement with a significant number of customers in Asia to move existing iron ore contracts that were previously priced annually onto shorter term pricing arrangements.

China labor shortage crisis - 2010/03/25

(Xinhua 2010/02/27) - The country's leading economic powerhouse, the Pearl River Delta Region, is reporting a shortfall of two million workers. In cities such as Dongguan and Guangzhou, where a great number of exporters are based, there are nearly 200 thousand vacancies.

(Xinhua 2010/03/25) - In the Pearl River Delta, once dubbed "the workshop of the world" and the preferred location for low-cost manufacturers, low-wage workers are increasingly scarce.

The shortages can be attributed to government policies aiming at closing the yawning income gap between the urban rich and the rural poor. Farmers now have more reason to stay in the countryside as the agricultural tax was eliminated and allowances are offered throughout the country; housing projects and infrastructure buildings are sprouting even in remote areas, creating alternative jobs for workers who once had to travel thousands of kilometers for jobs on the coast.

Low-wage workers are fading from the scene. Persistent labor shortages are pushing up wages throughout China's export hubs, threatening to weaken the competitiveness of "made in China" on world markets. In Guangdong Province, the center of the Pearl River Delta, the provincial government last week announced the raising of minimum wage by an average of about 21 per cent from May 1.

Market cautious: China iron ore prices top $110/T - 2009/08/06

(Reuters) - Benchmark spot prices of iron ore in China, the world's biggest consumer, surged to $110 a tonne on Thursday, traders and industry consultancy Mysteel said, 10 percent higher than a week earlier due to strong local demand.

Indian ore of 63/63.5 percent iron content for future delivery was quoted at $110 a tonne, including freight costs, while some ores for immediate delivery were bid at more than 900 yuan ($131.8) a tonne, Mysteel said.

The rises in Chinese domestic iron ore prices were also fuelled by efforts of Chinese steel makers to push up steel prices to bolster their financial positions and allow them to buy more materials.

Wuhan Iron and Steel Co. plans to raise September prices for its major steel products by 700 to 1,600 yuan ($102-$234) per tonne versus August tags, the official Shanghai Securities News reported.

China raises tax rebates on over 600 export lines - 2009/06/08

(Reuters) - China is increasing rebates of value added taxes (VAT) to exporters of more than 600 product lines, including some electronics, machinery, steel, toys and furniture.

This is the seventh time that the government has raised VAT rebates since last summer to help exporters hard hit by the slump in global demand.

Exporters of sewing machines will now be refunded the full VAT rate of 17 per cent. Rebates on suitcases, shoes and hats, toys and furniture increase to 15 per cent. Refunds on various plastic, chinaware and glassware products go up to 13 per cent. Exporters of selected steel products will receive an increased VAT refund of 9 per cent, while the rebate on alcohol rises to 5 per cent.

105th Canton Fair - 2009/05/10

The 105th session of the Canton Fair adopts a three-phase pattern, accommodating 55,885 standard stands, which is 265 more than the previous session. It covers a gross exhibition area of 1,125,000 square meters. 22,104 domestic and overseas enterprises participate in the fair, which is 237 less than the previous session.

(China Daily) - Canton Fair gets domestic as exports keep dropping
Export deals were down by almost 21 percent year on year at the first phase of the fair (April 15-19), which featured electronics, tools, machinery, vehicles, building materials and chemical products.

(Xinhua) - Companies flinch at Canton Fair amid global crisis
"Many customers used to order here at the fair but this time many people only took samples back“ said Chen Jianyong, manager of a Guangdong company producing Computer peripheral products. His company's biggest order from the fair was $1 million, half of last year's. "There is no longer an attitude of 'more risks, more benefits,' as the international situation has changed," said Feng Bin, general manager of Chunlan Import and Export Co. Ltd. from east China's Jiangsu Province.

(Canton Fair website) - It is reported that buyers had slashed their orders by $13 billion, or a third, compared with the last fair in April. The largest market for Chinese goods is now the Middle East, which bought up $2.76 billion of consumer goods compared to $1.17 billion of European orders and just $770m of orders from the United States.

IMF Chief Reaffirms Yuan Is Undervalued - 2009/04/05

(Dow Jones) - The head of the International Monetary Fund reaffirmed Sunday that the Chinese yuan is undervalued, and said the country should rely less on exports to drive its economy.

"I've been saying for months that the yuan is undervalued," IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn is quoted as saying in an interview published on the internet site of daily newspaper Le Figaro.

Strauss-Kahn said that to allow the yuan to appreciate, China's (economic) growth must not be fed exclusively on exports, but refocuses on domestic demand, which is happening.

China Baosteel cuts May prices vs April - 2009/04/01

(Reuters & Mysteel) - Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd has cut prices for major hot-rolled steel products by 250 yuan per tonne, and cold-rolled steel products by 200 yuan for May from April levels.

The price cut is equivalent to 7 percent on hot-rolled steel and 5 percent on cold-rolled products, according to a Reuters calculation.

After the decrease, prices for hot-rolled steel products will be 3,292 yuan ($482) per tonne, and prices for cold-rolled steel products will be 3,826 yuan per tonne.

China to raise export tax rebates on April 1st, 2009 - 2009/03/25

China will raise value-added tax rebates on export of 3,802 items from April 1, about 30 percent of its export lines, including textiles, steel, metal products, petrochemicals, electronic information and light industrial goods , said the Finance Ministry.

China has increased rebates several times since global demand weakened due to the economic crisis, threatening to cripple many of its export-dependent manufacturers and heavy industry sectors such as metals producers and petrochemicals.

Baosteel reduces product prices for April - 2009/03/04

(Reuters & China Daily) Baoshan Iron and Steel Co Ltd has cut prices for major hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel products for April by 200 yuan or US$29.23 per tonne from March levels. The price cut is equivalent to 4.7 per cent on cold-rolled steel and 5.3 per cent on hot-rolled products, according to a Reuters calculation.

After the decrease, prices for hot-rolled steel products will be US$517.6 per tonne and prices for cold-rolled steel products will be US$588.3 per tonne.