The Battle For China’s Steel

The Economic Observer says the investigation into the leaking of China’s negotiating position at the iron-ore price negotiations earlier this year that has resulted in the detention without charge of four Rio Tinto employers has widened to include Baosteel, the largest steel company. (China Daily has reported that all 16 of the leading steel mills [...]

Steel Cuckoo

A first cuckoo of economic spring? Several steel mills have announced price increases ranging from 5% to 25% for a variety of products, the Asian Wall Street Journal reports.
Baosteel and Anshan Iron & Steel say that they will raise prices for hot-rolled coil steel. Baosteel also said it will increase production at some of its [...]

Vale Backs Down Over Iron Ore Premium

Baosteel Group, the country’s biggest steelmaker, says Cia. Vale Do Rio Doco, the world’s largest iron ore supplier, has dropped its demand for a 12% premium on its exports to China. The global slowdown has led to a slump in demand for Chinese steel at home and abroad — and piles of unused iron ore [...]

Flat Output Will Help Steelmakers Strike Better Iron Ore Deals

Confirmation of the problems in the steel industry comes from Shan Shanghua, secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Association (here via People’s Daily).
He says production will be flat this year at 500 million tonnes, revising the association’s previous forecast of 5%-10% growth. Nor does he expect output to grow next year. The world [...]

China May Want To Buy Into BHP Billiton

Reports from Australia ahead of that country’s prime minister’s visit to Beijing that China wants to elbow its way into the takeover by BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, of its rival Rio Tinto.
In February, it acquired a 9.3% stake in Rio for $14 billion through state-owned Chinalco. Wanting to secure raw materials for [...]

From Steel To Insurance

Baosteel, China’s largest steel maker, is making a measured diversification into financial services in general and insurance in particular. The moves are worth following as a case study in the shaping of a national champion.
This month the company has upped its stake in New China Life, the country’s fourth largest life insurer, to 17.3% [...]

Steeling For A Takeover Fight III

“The report that Baosteel plans to buy Rio Tinto is untrue,” says Xu Lejiang, chairman of China’s biggest steel maker, quoted in the China Securities Journal. That is the same Xu who earlier was quoted in 21st Century Business Herald that a bid for the U.K.-based natural resources company was “quite likely”.
So take your pick. [...]

Steeling For A Takeover Fight II

The notion of a Chinese consortium bid for Rio Tinto is back in play, with the 21st Century Business Herald, here via AP, quoting Baosteel’s chairman, Xu Lejiang, as saying there was a strong possibility of such a bid.
The case for the country’s steel makers owning a significant supplier of their raw material has [...]