17th August 2009

Fortesc-who? With all eyes on the big three iron ore producers, few expected anyone outside the oligopoly to break the deadlock with China's mills. Yet Fortescue Metals of Perth, ranked 59 places below Rio Tinto on the list of the world's biggest materials companies by market capitalisation, has reached what it calls "a groundbreaking agreement" with Baosteel, the biggest steelmaker. Fortescue's output in the six months to December will be sold at US$55.50 a tonne, about a 3 per cent discount on the price Rio, the world's third-biggest producer by market cap, set in May with non-Chinese mills.