Iron Ore Prices Tumble as Four Large Producers Ramp up Production

(Beijing) – Liu Ming, who has been an iron ore purchaser for a medium-sized steel company in eastern China for a decade, says an interesting phenomenon has been occurring in the industry this year. "The iron ore supply is sufficient and suppliers cut prices, which would have been hard to imagine in the past," Liu said.

This comes after the world's four largest iron ore suppliers – Vale SA, Rio Tinto Group, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) – expanded production. Analysts said the miners did this while business was slow in an attempt to drive out other competitors who have high costs so they could get more of China's market.