REUTERS
NEW YORK, JAN 28
The price of iron ore, a key ingredient in steel-making, is expected to decline as much as 50 percent this year, the head of AK Steel said on Tuesday.
‘As the steel industry cranked out record shipments, the price of iron ore tripled,’ chairman, president and CEO James Wainscott told Wall Street analysts on a conference call.
‘It now stands to reason that some of that must come back. We have seen figures of 10 to 50 (per cent), but it must come back in a big way.’
Iron ore prices soared in recent years as the steel industry boomed. Last year, Brazilian ore miner Vale won 71-per cent price increases, but later backed off 12-per cent hikes for its Chinese customers as the economic downturn took hold. Wainscott said AK Steel expected to see lower raw material prices in the second half of this year. ‘We certainly expect to see significant declines in iron ore prices. We believe it could decline by 50 per cent in ’09.’
