silver was at ca 5 year low also without the manip
Post# of 8054
the big question mark is whether china will let market forces work to close chinese mines-the big threes plan- or artificially support them- which would make no economic sense-and sources have said market forces would close 50% or more of chinese mines w their low average 15% iron at these prices
Iron ore price at new five-year low
Daniel Palmer
12 min ago
The price of iron ore has continued its rapid descent, closing out last week at a new five-year low.
At the end of the offshore Friday session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US75.50 a tonne, down 0.2 per cent from its previous close of $US75.60.
The fall represented the 11th negative session out of the last 12, with the commodity giving up 7.5 per cent during this period, from levels above $US81 a tonne.
The iron ore price has now lost 45 per cent in 2014, with current levels the lowest since June 2009.
The latest moves follow comments from key Brazilian producer Vale that hinted at a rationalisation of supply in coming years.
“Because of the extraordinarily high price before, many suppliers came into the market, even very rudimentary and manual and family businesses, trying to produce iron ore in every possible way. At $150, everybody wants to ship some,” Claudio Alves, global director of ferrous marketing and sales at Vale, said, according to Bloomberg.
“They will have to go out and market will balance.”