Source: Financial Times, 1st September 2011

If the global economy is slowing, iron ore miners have not noticed. The producers of the steelmaking commodity are partying away. The Platts index-based price for the grade of ore used as a reference by the likes of Vale and Rio Tinto for fourth-quarter contracts is $175.63 per tonne, nary a percentage point below that for the third quarter. Miners' move from an annual to a quarterly pricing policy has helped them to lock in a 30 per cent spot price rise over the past year. The lack of price weakness reflectsthe sources of demand: aboutthree-quarters from emerging markets, mostly China. Chinese demand for iron ore will still increase smartly even if the growth rate of gross domestic product slows to 7 per cent.