Firstly, the spot market undeniably came into vogue - primarily on the policy swings of majors like BHP Billiton Ltd and Vale Inco Ltd, both of which indicated that they wanted to sell their product at what they perceived as current market value rather than via long term contracts. Secondly, the nation's iron ore junior sector flourished over the past 12 months, with the relevant stocks of listed companies collectively increasing by some 208%. These were two of the findings by the Sydney-based Resource Capital Research (RCR) which, in its latest analysis of the sector, said the current system of year-long contracts was "very likely" to be replaced in 2010 - wholly or in part - by short term arrangements and/or an index based pricing system.
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