Thanks for watching. I know this is a sensitive subject. Please be civil and comment thoughtfully. Check out other Asianometry videos on China's economy here: th-cam.com/play/PLKtxx9TnH76T_4R7Lxs8QoDr64zlvt8SS.html
@@andro7862 the Chinese themselves have no problem barring whatever company or country the please. The free market has always taken a back seat to national security. This is true in any country. It’s foolish to sell iron ore to china, when they are using that iron to make ships to invade your country. The Chinese navy is oriented towards conquering Taiwan, and then Japan and Australia. Nothing good has come from trading with China.
A beautiful explanation. All I heard from Aussie media at the time was 'Labor is selling our country'. You laid out Chinese and Aussie grievances and interests clearly. Your channel is a gold mine, and something future historians should consult.
Yup, seconding this. We've all already gotten the hot takes, that frankly weren't all that interesting. Seeing it laid out plainly without the plethora of opinions is excellent.
Ironic, the original Rio Tinto was in Spain. Meaning “Paint River”, it formed on top of massive ore deposits and it’s mining history can be traced back over the last 5000 years. Because of its extensive, seemingly eternal mining history, Rio Tinto has so much iron and heavy metals dissolved into it’s acidic waters, that the river itself is various shades of bright orange, yellow, and red, it almost looks like a sunset on the earth, it’s unbelievable. So yeah, a mining company named Rio Tinto is actually quite clever!
Spain also mined “cinnabar”. A lot of men went mad. It was the chemicals they used to render the cinnabar for painting pigment. Wonder if that’s the same mine.
@@jackiestowe6987 I heard the cinnabar (Mercury sulfide) mines in Spain almost exclusively used prisoners as forced labor, seeing that nobody would willingly work in a place like that
Jon, you are doing GREAT work... I don't know anyone else examining iron ore cartels? Much knowledge is required to even begin examining such issues. Well done. regards Horace
Well researched, insightful and balanced. Commodities are traditionally opaque, shady and mix business with power politics. Excellent work navigating the subject and highlight the basics while not avoiding the controversial issues. Well done.
Iron ore is actually a monopoly rather than oligopoly. Each mine produces a different iron ore specification. For an optimum steel production productivity, you need to buy Ore from several players. Finally Vale has been heavily involved in child labor and deforestation in Brazil. Vale fostered the construction of a pig iron complex in the heart of Brazilian forests. In an area with no natural coal, the native trees became the fuel to produce pig iron.
Vale's biggest problem is not the damage caused to the forests, Vale's biggest damage is the depletion of water aquifers. In places where you draw water from a 20 meter well, two years after the valley arrives, water is only found at a depth of 100 meters. And Vale does not have child labor. The unemployment rate in brazil exceeds 15%
"Each mine".....correct me if I'm wrong but each "miner" has more than 1 "mine". In Australia they train it all to 1 place mix it to agreed grade and "send it".
There are a number of very large companies that mine Iron Ore in Australia in competition to Rio and BHP. Newer Australian companies Fortescue, Hancock Mining have entered the market with large operations. Large Japanese mining company ITOCHU Minerals and Energy of Australia has entered the market.
@@conpanidis3574 Becasue they are building lithium mine in heart of the country in fertile arable land near big river and very populated area. Basically, they will destroyed huge area of our country in heart of Europe. They corrupted our government, ao we need to fight
The bottom was falling off from the financial industries, banks were undergoing stress tests, and there were fears of chain bankruptcies of banks due to overlending. So it was very hard to get any money for investment or refinancing old loans. Cash was king. I remember reading the financial news at the time. Nobody knew how long it was going to last, and if it would turn into another Great Depression. So at the time selling at a discount was seen as an alternative to declaring bankruptcy and selling for nothing. But once the baking industry returned to a more normal work conditions everyone saw that they were not so desperate for cash, and the deal was ditched.
@@nikolatasev4948 I remember it too, and it was difficult, but even at the time this deal seemed like the worst possible option. The most dangerous thing to RioTinto was its CEO panicking, and selling the company off at rock bottom to its customers in China.
@@tobuslieven well obviously you could of bailout the RIoTinto? they could of had a equity raising but obviously existing share holders would have balked at that to.
CEO, management have their own incentives, separate from owners. In London owners, stockholders didnt like the deal. They have final say. Thats when the deal is done done.
no one can predict the future. hindsight is not insight. there was no certainty if they would get the money from elsewhere. it is as simple as that. at the end of the day, the problem with the capitalist system is it overly favors the one that has raw cash. if anyone think capitalism is a "fair" system, they really have no idea why capitalism is call capitalism.
Rio backs out of a commercially unsound deal and then the Chinese frame up 4 dudes for it. Then Rio throws them under the bus and it's all business as usual after 2 years.
I know this is a big ask. But I think it’s time to step up your game with citations. Even if it takes you longer to produce videos. I think it’s really the next step for you. Keep at it! Great videos.
Its U Tube not University Press . This guy already does a massive amount of work for folk/followers who could if they wished, do their own research. Moreover most of us get it for free. Consider the price of books and journal and data access subscriptions. This was a great well balanced video. Many thanks to the producers.
@@randomthot125 wherever country they are in, they always seem to think the local laws don't apply to them. They always try to find ways to circle around them and the chain of command is so ridiculous that accountability is rarely possible.
@@Mar-ec7et I think they invaded already. Check out property development, overseas students, Confucius Institutes etc. Fire up the barbie, I'm coming over!
When I was attending a mining industry (only industry employing math majors) meetup in australia, the speakers said they didn't care if we left the company after they trained us.
@@VanTran-ne4yf no. The point is that they paid you, and trained you, and didn't care if the Return On Investment was NEGATIVE! This shows the mining industry is so full of cash, in the mind on the lower tier employees, that it doesn't matter if that cash is flushed down the toilet. ANY company run that way will soon fail.
A major factor in the price changes in 2013 - 2020 was the fact that an awful lot of additional capacity came on line over that period. Rio Tinto's production jumped from around 140M tons to 360M tons in 2019. That extra production cost over $13 billion and required the building of a new wharf and processing facility at Cape Lambert. New Mines and double tracking of significant portions of their rail network (Some 1500 or so km in total). That didn't come on line till late 2016? and then of course the plant had to ramp up. So by 2019 to start producing at capacity which about the time the price started to slide. Globally alot of capacity came on line over that period. As they say, "The cure for high prices is high prices".
Its hard to tell because deals are done everywhere on everything. The natural gas from up north (Australia) is shipped to Japan cheaper than we can buy it here. The government gave China a 99 year lease of a port in Darwin which the population didn't find out about until it was all over etc, etc. The only thing that is certain is that neither the Chinese, Japanese or Australian working stiff is consulted about anything.
25/10/2121 The Port of Darwin "deal" was made by the NT Govt who owned the port facilities. The gas fields to the north of Australia were supposed to be an Australian "entitlement" by International Law. Apparently the "boundaries" are dictated by the area of the continental shelf, not just a measurement from a shoreline. That was the case, which caused so much angst that the Australian Government of the day agreed to different circumstances; which still hold today. The gas plant was built tin Darwin, where it stands and is a real "sight to see"; particularly at night when it is lit up "like a Christmas tree".
Hi, exploration geologist here who has worked for a large producer of iron ore. We hold and keep tenements for the longevity of the company. Deposits are hard to find. So we try keep production consistent. When a minesite ends and is no longer economic, we start a new mine elsewhere. The concept of mining every deposit available when found is bullish, and would require not only a lot of investment but would result in a huge crash for the company once the deposits are used up.
Not to mention a CRASH is the price of the Iron Ore. De Beers have the right idea...take a piece of crystalized carbon, corner the market on diamonds. Then tell Women it's scarce and the bigger the stone 💎 , the more your Man loves ❤ you and then sit back and rake in the money 💰💰. Marketing (Mind not Mined manipulation) 🤣
@@laed3520 yeah but even then da Beers has been circumvented within the past few decades by rio Tinto, large Canadian based diamond companies ect ect. Rio Tinto in particular monopolised argyle diamonds. I’m not a fan of Dabeers, I’m not a fan of any company that holds and monopolises a commodity. That being said, if given the chance I’d do it too 🤣
Damn. Eight years of his life wasted in a Chinese prison, while Rio Tinto continue with business as usual. I hope that Stern Hu was well compensated for going under the bus with Rio Tinto's name on it.
For years I have been trying to ascertain if Rio looked after him. Publicly they blamed him and let the bus roll over him. I have seen/heard of no legal action by him against Rio so it is possible a deal was made. Rudd the prime minister at the time did nothing to help him. The Chairman Du Plessis made a point of blaming him.
@@MrDvdwills How do you know Rudd did nothing? Rudd is and was an old China hand (he'd been Australia's ambassador there for years) with excellent contacts in China's elite. But he certainly knew better than to PUBLICLY push the Chinese. I bet he did plenty behind closed doors. Du Plessis, yep, fair cop.
Why would the minning company cause a coup ? Or are you saying china caused the coup ? Also it was literally said in the video that Rio helped china get mines in guinea. Even Australia helped is this all help not supposed to make them main minning co ??
Instead of calling this a Chinese intervened business deals. It is just sounds like a typical international business deal to me. When the there is enough money in a critical business deal, a responsible government will intervene to make sure they are getting the best deal. No matter is the German government, French government or Canadian government. It is just people are not use to seeing the Chinese in that position before.
I agree with that up until the Chinese nationals working for Rio were arrested. I remember being shocked and knowing it was a message to all nationals that they had to do the right thing by China first. That's not a normal deal. That's an early clear message that China had departed from the free market mandate that we in the west thought was their trajectory.
If Australia actually produced steel with its iron ore, there would be no issue here but they don't. Without vertical integration of the iron ore to high-value steel Australia is just a sharecropper in the steel business.
As the US and British steelmakers have found, 'steel sharecropping' can be preferable to a state wide rust belt when your production costs fail to compete. Maybe I should say former steelmakers, since many are long dead.
The reason that China has many steel company across the country is because the bad relationship between China and Soviet Union back in 1970 when a military conflict broke between the two countries. Mao fear that Soviet could easily invade and take the whole Manchuria which most China's heavy industris are located, So Mao began the plans to move the indutries deep into the heart of the country. This is not only applied to steel industries. also other heavy industries. So you can see there are automobile manufactor DONFGENG Auto( East Wind by meaning) that also make trucks in Hubei competed with the also state own company FAW in Changchun, Jilin. There are also two major company that produce Chinese military planes one is in Shenyang Liaoning, another is in Chengdu, Sichuan.
As an Australian, thanks for a great overview. I had not understood the situation. At the time it seemed like retaliation for China not getting control over Rio. I always wondered what happened to the Chinese citizens caught between their employer and their nation. Being jailed for 8 years for no good reason is pretty terrible. I hope some Rio executives have been funding this guy's pension because they owe him for taking the fall while they continued to make billions.
I believe this guy did take the money, but he did not make the deal done. That is why he got jailed. Also, I believe he took the money from every steel company which wants to buy a good deal ore from RIO. It is retaliation for China, but no one was clean.
There has been a lot of recent development. Iron ore price fell by half. China stopped importing iron ore and coking coal from Australia altogether. It pushed Australia in a recession. Usually this wouldn't work if there was real demand. However iron demand is a very complicated question because how fragmented steel industry is in china. Companies expand their capacity in good times recklessly. The central government had repeatedly to try to control it without success. But this time is different. Essentially coking coal is in short supply and import from Australia is banned. Even if local companies wanted to expand production they couldn't secure coking coals. So instead you see coking coal price skyrockets. However the most suppliers are actually within china. So the strategy now is to control coking coal quantity to rein in steel production to push down iron ore price. Another major reason is that real estate development is no longer an engine of growth as it used to be
Yeh, China imports 60% of it's iron ore from Australia, that can't be replaced by anyone - not even Brazil. And I have no idea where you get a recession from, their GDP has increased 5.1% this year alone.
@@brendanedwards2277 they just moved from real estate to, service sector, I think, china policy makers are very fast and efficient in their policy making, thus can adapt to changed compared where policy is run by votes, because well there are many quarrels before the policy will passed, the ccp is known for it's backup plans anyway
@@ayami123 just because they're fast at making their policies doesn't mean their efficient or right! look at the one child policy, a massive failure which will have consequences for generations in China - ie a declining population, and nothing they do will turn that around.
It's so weird to see photos of rolling mills and to realize they are like the same. If you haven't seen them they are like transformers for maintenance and modification of billet dimensions. I rebuild gearboxes for steel mills and recently for the first time did inspections on the line. And man it's wild. And HOT even when nothings been used for 6 hours.
As soon as you start talking about any sort of conflict between two nations, there will be blood. Most people can't see past their own chauvinism. Look at how the UK tries to blame Brexit on the EU, for example. This video was done as best as possible, with no personal opinion. I don't think anyone could have done better.
Anything on China seems to be a sensitive subject since pretty much every western media outlet is always some sort of anti-China narrative. Some people won't even watch the video and just comment directly about China. I think this video is well presented and clear to the point.
@@arewealone9969 usually there's a reason why people people bash on a country. You don't see the entire world bashing on the Spanish or the Swiss, do you ? I wonder what particular Chinese "traditions" might cause people to have a negative opinion of the entire country...
@@TheNefastor nah, it only started when, chinese economy is on the rise to overtake USA, just like what happen to the Japanese and American Trade war during the 80s
talked about price increase but not demand increase exact quantity. if demand goes up 38% then maybe justifies 38% price increase if more mines aren't coming on line.
None. Western companies buy rare earths from Chinese companies. They don’t own any mines. It is a huge strategic vulnerability not just for the west but the entire world that China has a monopoly on rare earths.
Rare earth mines are not of interest, rare earths are NOT rare... What China have is 90%? of rare earth REFINING capacity. As an example, rare earths are mined in the USA BUT IT IS SHIPPED TO CHINA
@Joe _"You can't take money out of china."_ Rubbish, of course you can. Do you really believe that company's like GM who produce and sell more cars in China would do that if they could not get their profit out of China??? Just the fact that in 2020 China was the country in the world with most Foreign Investments. Do you belive most of investors in the world are mad??? There are one set of rules for Chinese, another for foreign companies, but both can send money out.
@@Joe-nq6hy Really: Ask Exxon, who just put up a $10 billion plastic plant, Tesla, McDonald's, KFC, Walmart, Sams Club, Costco, Starbuck, and hundreds of others. Even Google won't leave as they still make money there.
I loved the kangaroo logo mimicking the deer logo. One of the most famous examples of convergent evolution. Thank you for that explanation. Brilliant. I really could not understand what was happening at the time except that I learned to hate Rio and the CCP as vicious and corrupt players - neither of whom should be allowed to have any control in Australia. A good assessment as time as both their actions has since proved.
5:54 It's not peculiar for "China Steel" to be in Taiwan, if you know a bit about history. "Taiwan" operates China Airlines as well, because "Taiwan" is actually the Republic of China, which was formed in 1912, and has never ceased existing since then.
@@c雨颖 ""Taiwan" is actually the Republic of China, which was formed in 1912, and has never ceased existing since then." I'm very confused by people like you. Who, I guess misread something I say in even the slightest, and think I'm a pro-CCP bot. What's wrong with you? I clearly stated what you said, yet, you say I want to publish my rumors? Seriously, what's wrong with you?
@@brennencox516 Taiwan is a province of China, and there is no Republic of China in this world, what are you not publishing rumors? Are you mentally ill?
A few points missing is that China demand has increases thru a lot of subsidies(which makes investor nervous that demand is not sustainable) & secondly Brazil loosing a lot of supply thru numerous dam failures as Brazil supply returns the iron ore price will drop a lot unless new demand comes from India.ATM other steel producers out of China are becoming very profitable as they can buy Australian Coking at a discount due to it being banned from China.
Nice job. International mining should be up for some digging, although they very obviously are not. I could mention remaining underground, but that is a little too much punning
As an entrepreneur, we all like to buy things for cheaps or free. It's a shark world not for the faint hearted. China aluminium has every right to buy on the cheaps. No one out a gun on Rio tinto head to sign. They did and they should honoured that. But based on their 200 years track record, China aluminium should have known better they would renegade
Rio left themselves an out and took it in the best interests of the company. Something an "entrepreneur" wouldn't think twice about doing. If Chinalco are so confident of their position where are the court proceedings?
@@FoxMcScrooge And where would you suggest that platform of court proceedings be held? In a biased kangaroo court western country? Pretty sure the Chinese firm will get a fair trial lmfao.
@@FoxMcScrooge You what is the one thing different between China court and that of Western? China courts cut to the chase. Western court like to go the whole nine yards and waste everyone's time. We both know there are no justice in either courts.I have had my fair shares of days in courts. I would stay away from court be it China's or western's. Many times it's best to walk away a looser like what China aluminium did
@@alf8652 No the difference is that in the West there is a clear separation of powers. That is to say, in the interests of justice and transparency, the judicial system in the West is independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. That isn't even close to being a concept to the CCP. Chinese courts don't "cut to the chase" as you put it. The Chinese judicial system is a weapon that the CCP uses as it sees fit and is in no way fair, transparent or just.
I recall that BHP sought to base iron prices on the spot market years before this actually happened. As number 3 behind Vale (Va-lay by the way) and Rio in iron they didn’t immediately get their way. Rio is and always was a second rate company.
This article, which I am only focusing on the expelling/incarceration on "the four" individuals, concerns an event that, it's Nexus" occured 26 years ago! I read several articles from various sources. However, most of them were from "The Wall Street Journal!
Or Concrete. The world is running low on available Ocean sand. China has used more Concrete in 2018 & 2019 then was used by the USA in the all of the 20th Century.
@@laed3520 that cant be possible you are talking about greatest industrial age of america. While china didn't build much in 2018 19 The building frenzy stopped. You might talking abt 2013-15
Interesting to see that hostage diplomacy is not just something China invented with its recent dispute with Canada. I wasn’t following politics as much at the time but stern hu is not the last fall guy for a bad deal with the CCP. And I’d never thought I’d see a Barnaby Joyce quote I’d agree with but you managed to find one. Bravo!
The Canadian authority arrested the daugher of Huwaei founder and you called it China invented the hostage diplomacy? Sometimes i wonder what goes through some people's mind. 😵
Who even got taken hostage when the Australian govt didnt even protest for Hu's jailing deeming it right ? Are you saying Australian govt colluded with china to not care about Hu ? Hostage is something like what happened to Huawei No one goes to prison in hostage diplomacy
Well John as you might put it, the hornets nest has been kicked. Of course, have enjoyed the video and I do think you did a great job at presenting the situation. m as usual I will probably have to watch it again to take it all in.
Hu assumed the risk. As an employee of an organization known for sharp dealings, Hu wasn't ignorant of how things worked at the highest level. Doing business in China is not for innocents. Hu got caught. Probably 100 others have not been in the news.
Minerals and natural resourses should be a national priority for all country. That's our trees and soil they sell all around the world. Letting other country or multinational do what ever they want with them just show the weakness of our gouvernement or our lack of jugment toward the future generation.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE talk about the Carlos Ghosn situation. That was like a James Bond movie. 😂 As for Mr. Ghosn, I believe he was an industrial spy and the Japanese found out and made up a story to boot him out of Nissan.
There was also rumors that Ghosn was going to merge nissan and renault, since renault essentially controls nissan it would be mostly nissan being absorbed by renault. The japanese gov and nissan mgmt were not too happy about this.
@@TheFirebird123456 that merger would have to be approved by Japan. Whether they were happy or not didn't make a difference they would never let it pass. Ghosn is a criminal and he got ratted out by whistle blowers
@@ashishpatel350 *Put's on tin foil hat* I think that was a cover for the real reason Ghosn was ejected from Nisan. I dunno, the official story never sat right with me. 🥴
This is how business is done from ancient times to our present times. Business is monopoly Monopoly is business If you cant compete with them sanction them & warn the others not to business with them or get sanction too
The cure for higher prices is higher prices to attract new players to increase supply causing decrease in demand, thereby lowering prices, regardless of the product or service in every free market . the problem with taking a company public is that it becomes a conflict of interests between short-term and long-term goals. Funny how the conniving CCP failed to build their own mining companies and attempted to steal the mining companies as they steal intellectual property that set up shop in China. Reminds me of 1930's Japan trying to buy foreign resources to build their economy/country and when unable they invaded country-rich resources to satisfy the demand.
What is the problem with the world? The problem is raw materials are scattered all over the world that everyone needs. And it could work with agreements. But factor in greed and cheating and you have a mess. Nobody cares for the other companies around the world that have people that need to make a living. The only way this is going to work is if there is a price agreed upon by all nations and a worldwide law against greed. If someone in the world goes against the price agreed upon, the world needs to demand that person be in prison because he violated the greed law.
Australian iron ore producers always complained that the Chinese would negotiate a price with the Brazilian producers then want the same price from Australia. Due to discounts required to compensate for the higher freight costs this represented substantial savings for the Chinese, and had the result of smaller volumes being sold under a contracted price and more being sold on the spot market. Stern Hu's arrest has always seemed to be that he took bribes from Chinese sources and never actually delivered the information they wanted.
Thanks for watching. I know this is a sensitive subject. Please be civil and comment thoughtfully.
Check out other Asianometry videos on China's economy here: th-cam.com/play/PLKtxx9TnH76T_4R7Lxs8QoDr64zlvt8SS.html
Western companies should not deal with China or invest in China. China is rabidly nationalistic and they hate the west.
@@gj1234567899999 It's a free market, who are you to stop them?
The world has learned from China that jailing corporate executives is a good negotiating tactic.
@@andro7862 the Chinese themselves have no problem barring whatever company or country the please. The free market has always taken a back seat to national security. This is true in any country. It’s foolish to sell iron ore to china, when they are using that iron to make ships to invade your country. The Chinese navy is oriented towards conquering Taiwan, and then Japan and Australia. Nothing good has come from trading with China.
It is NOT China vs the WEST.. it is clearly CHINA vs the REST
A beautiful explanation. All I heard from Aussie media at the time was 'Labor is selling our country'. You laid out Chinese and Aussie grievances and interests clearly. Your channel is a gold mine, and something future historians should consult.
Yup, seconding this. We've all already gotten the hot takes, that frankly weren't all that interesting. Seeing it laid out plainly without the plethora of opinions is excellent.
gold mine, iron ore mine, lithium mine, all of it :)
But yet liberals have sold/privatised more in the last 5 years than the last 50
your country? you stole it from the Aboriginals
Ironic, the original Rio Tinto was in Spain. Meaning “Paint River”, it formed on top of massive ore deposits and it’s mining history can be traced back over the last 5000 years. Because of its extensive, seemingly eternal mining history, Rio Tinto has so much iron and heavy metals dissolved into it’s acidic waters, that the river itself is various shades of bright orange, yellow, and red, it almost looks like a sunset on the earth, it’s unbelievable. So yeah, a mining company named Rio Tinto is actually quite clever!
The company was named after this river. It says in the video.
@@mingdianli7802 I should watch the whole video/pay attention more instead of jumping straight into the comments 😅
Spain also mined “cinnabar”. A lot of men went mad. It was the chemicals they used to render the cinnabar for painting pigment. Wonder if that’s the same mine.
@@jackiestowe6987 I heard the cinnabar (Mercury sulfide) mines in Spain almost exclusively used prisoners as forced labor, seeing that nobody would willingly work in a place like that
You'll love my new nuclear power company then, its called chernobyl.
Jon, you are doing GREAT work... I don't know anyone else examining iron ore cartels?
Much knowledge is required to even begin examining such issues. Well done. regards Horace
Well researched, insightful and balanced.
Commodities are traditionally opaque, shady and mix business with power politics.
Excellent work navigating the subject and highlight the basics while not avoiding the controversial issues.
Well done.
Rio Tinto is a small brazilian city near my hometown, I was trying to understand by the title how the hell it was competing with China.
Iron ore is actually a monopoly rather than oligopoly. Each mine produces a different iron ore specification. For an optimum steel production productivity, you need to buy Ore from several players.
Finally Vale has been heavily involved in child labor and deforestation in Brazil. Vale fostered the construction of a pig iron complex in the heart of Brazilian forests. In an area with no natural coal, the native trees became the fuel to produce pig iron.
Vale's biggest problem is not the damage caused to the forests, Vale's biggest damage is the depletion of water aquifers. In places where you draw water from a 20 meter well, two years after the valley arrives, water is only found at a depth of 100 meters. And Vale does not have child labor. The unemployment rate in brazil exceeds 15%
What the f. Actually using trees . Hahahaha how backwards can you go.
"Each mine".....correct me if I'm wrong but each "miner" has more than 1 "mine". In Australia they train it all to 1 place mix it to agreed grade and "send it".
Chinese spy
idk, just found this channel and watching your videos is all i did since yeasterday. Really nice work, keep going!
There are a number of very large companies that mine Iron Ore in Australia in competition to Rio and BHP.
Newer Australian companies Fortescue, Hancock Mining have entered the market with large operations.
Large Japanese mining company ITOCHU Minerals and Energy of Australia has entered the market.
they are steeling Australia's resources
09:17... the building you have is at 120 Collins street, whereas Rio Tinto's HQ is at 360 Collins street, Melbourne.
Hey here in Serbia we fight against Rio Tinto lithium mining!
Why?
@@conpanidis3574 They are greedy company, they don't care about people, environment or anything...Just $$$
@@conpanidis3574 Becasue they are building lithium mine in heart of the country in fertile arable land near big river and very populated area. Basically, they will destroyed huge area of our country in heart of Europe. They corrupted our government, ao we need to fight
The mine will still be built.
@@sparkymalarky4322 This time we will fight. People who live there are creazy, no amount of money will push them out
You reporting is very objective. No good or bad players, only facts. Wish the mainstream media will do the same.
13:56 Why did the CEO make such a stupid deal? Everyone else immediately saw it was no good.
The bottom was falling off from the financial industries, banks were undergoing stress tests, and there were fears of chain bankruptcies of banks due to overlending. So it was very hard to get any money for investment or refinancing old loans. Cash was king. I remember reading the financial news at the time. Nobody knew how long it was going to last, and if it would turn into another Great Depression. So at the time selling at a discount was seen as an alternative to declaring bankruptcy and selling for nothing.
But once the baking industry returned to a more normal work conditions everyone saw that they were not so desperate for cash, and the deal was ditched.
@@nikolatasev4948 I remember it too, and it was difficult, but even at the time this deal seemed like the worst possible option. The most dangerous thing to RioTinto was its CEO panicking, and selling the company off at rock bottom to its customers in China.
@@tobuslieven well obviously you could of bailout the RIoTinto? they could of had a equity raising but obviously existing share holders would have balked at that to.
CEO, management have their own incentives, separate from owners. In London owners, stockholders didnt like the deal. They have final say.
Thats when the deal is done done.
no one can predict the future. hindsight is not insight. there was no certainty if they would get the money from elsewhere. it is as simple as that. at the end of the day, the problem with the capitalist system is it overly favors the one that has raw cash. if anyone think capitalism is a "fair" system, they really have no idea why capitalism is call capitalism.
Rio backs out of a commercially unsound deal and then the Chinese frame up 4 dudes for it. Then Rio throws them under the bus and it's all business as usual after 2 years.
I know this is a big ask. But I think it’s time to step up your game with citations. Even if it takes you longer to produce videos. I think it’s really the next step for you. Keep at it! Great videos.
Yes or at least some sources in the description
Its U Tube not University Press . This guy already does a massive amount of work for folk/followers who could if they wished, do their own research. Moreover most of us get it for free. Consider the price of books and journal and data access subscriptions.
This was a great well balanced video.
Many thanks to the producers.
Having worked with RIO TINTO extensively, I wish more employees of them would be sent to jail in China.
care to elaborate more?
@@randomthot125 wherever country they are in, they always seem to think the local laws don't apply to them. They always try to find ways to circle around them and the chain of command is so ridiculous that accountability is rarely possible.
Correct!
Arrogant much?
@@Mar-ec7et I think they invaded already. Check out property development, overseas students, Confucius Institutes etc. Fire up the barbie, I'm coming over!
When I was attending a mining industry (only industry employing math majors) meetup in australia, the speakers said they didn't care if we left the company after they trained us.
what wrong with that? you expect them to give you a life time employment? you would not stay with them if the salary so low either.
@@VanTran-ne4yf no.
The point is that they paid you, and trained you, and didn't care if the Return On Investment was NEGATIVE!
This shows the mining industry is so full of cash, in the mind on the lower tier employees, that it doesn't matter if that cash is flushed down the toilet. ANY company run that way will soon fail.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken no the reality is it doesn't take a genius to dig up Iron Ore. If you want recognition I'd suggest you pursue academia.
@@FoxMcScrooge I hear the margins in iron are thin. I am too dumb for the academy, but thank you for the suggestion.
@@DumbledoreMcCracken Trust me, the iron ore miners will be there in the good times and the bad; no matter what you and your CCP buddies think.
A major factor in the price changes in 2013 - 2020 was the fact that an awful lot of additional capacity came on line over that period.
Rio Tinto's production jumped from around 140M tons to 360M tons in 2019.
That extra production cost over $13 billion and required the building of a new wharf and processing facility at Cape Lambert. New Mines and double tracking of significant portions of their rail network (Some 1500 or so km in total).
That didn't come on line till late 2016? and then of course the plant had to ramp up. So by 2019 to start producing at capacity which about the time the price started to slide.
Globally alot of capacity came on line over that period. As they say, "The cure for high prices is high prices".
A ton of history and information. A must view for any miner investor ! Well done !
Its hard to tell because deals are done everywhere on everything. The natural gas from up north (Australia) is shipped to Japan cheaper than we can buy it here. The government gave China a 99 year lease of a port in Darwin which the population didn't find out about until it was all over etc, etc. The only thing that is certain is that neither the Chinese, Japanese or Australian working stiff is consulted about anything.
From what I heard those natural gas was ripped off from Timor Leste. It a scandal exposed by "witness K"
25/10/2121 The Port of Darwin "deal" was made by the NT Govt who owned the port facilities. The gas fields to the north of Australia were supposed to be an Australian "entitlement" by International Law. Apparently the "boundaries" are dictated by the area of the continental shelf, not just a measurement from a shoreline. That was the case, which caused so much angst that the Australian Government of the day agreed to different circumstances; which still hold today. The gas plant was built tin Darwin, where it stands and is a real "sight to see"; particularly at night when it is lit up "like a Christmas tree".
Hi, exploration geologist here who has worked for a large producer of iron ore.
We hold and keep tenements for the longevity of the company. Deposits are hard to find. So we try keep production consistent. When a minesite ends and is no longer economic, we start a new mine elsewhere.
The concept of mining every deposit available when found is bullish, and would require not only a lot of investment but would result in a huge crash for the company once the deposits are used up.
Not to mention a CRASH is the price of the Iron Ore.
De Beers have the right idea...take a piece of crystalized carbon, corner the market on diamonds. Then tell Women it's scarce and the bigger the stone 💎 , the more your Man loves ❤ you and then sit back and rake in the money 💰💰.
Marketing (Mind not Mined manipulation) 🤣
@@laed3520 yeah but even then da Beers has been circumvented within the past few decades by rio Tinto, large Canadian based diamond companies ect ect. Rio Tinto in particular monopolised argyle diamonds. I’m not a fan of Dabeers, I’m not a fan of any company that holds and monopolises a commodity. That being said, if given the chance I’d do it too 🤣
Excellent report.
Interesting how power players play.
I just found your channel, and I am super impressed by your content quality! Thanks so much!
Damn. Eight years of his life wasted in a Chinese prison, while Rio Tinto continue with business as usual. I hope that Stern Hu was well compensated for going under the bus with Rio Tinto's name on it.
For years I have been trying to ascertain if Rio looked after him. Publicly they blamed him and let the bus roll over him. I have seen/heard of no legal action by him against Rio so it is possible a deal was made. Rudd the prime minister at the time did nothing to help him. The Chairman Du Plessis made a point of blaming him.
Goes to show why to never be loyal to any corporation, they will drop you faster than you can say oh shit
@@MrDvdwills How do you know Rudd did nothing? Rudd is and was an old China hand (he'd been Australia's ambassador there for years) with excellent contacts in China's elite. But he certainly knew better than to PUBLICLY push the Chinese. I bet he did plenty behind closed doors. Du Plessis, yep, fair cop.
@@juantwog Yes, it occurs to me that Rio Tinto is going to find it very hard to get their executives to accept a China posting after this. I wouldn't.
excellent content.
Thank you for sharing you're knowledge and understanding. It is a complicated world, I appreciate the effort
Great job as usual. Do you plan to investigate the recent coup in Guinea where Chinalco became the main mining Co?
Cursed be chinalco .cursed be the staff. May accidents, losses , law suits, confusion, fires, food poisoning follow the mining operations
Why would the minning company cause a coup ? Or are you saying china caused the coup ?
Also it was literally said in the video that Rio helped china get mines in guinea. Even Australia helped is this all help not supposed to make them main minning co ??
Instead of calling this a Chinese intervened business deals.
It is just sounds like a typical international business deal to me.
When the there is enough money in a critical business deal, a responsible government will intervene to make sure they are getting the best deal. No matter is the German government, French government or Canadian government.
It is just people are not use to seeing the Chinese in that position before.
I agree with that up until the Chinese nationals working for Rio were arrested. I remember being shocked and knowing it was a message to all nationals that they had to do the right thing by China first. That's not a normal deal. That's an early clear message that China had departed from the free market mandate that we in the west thought was their trajectory.
@@joythought it’s obvious you’ve never had a role in a serious business deal when you trot out the term “free market mandate”….lol
@@joythought free market? Are you joking?
@@joythought There is no bigger caricature than the term “free market”
@@joythought The US jailed French high ranking employees of Alstom to pressure France to sell the company to General Electrics.
I AM SATISFIED WITH YOUR WORK, Deer.
I am satisfied.
It's pronounced Vah-lee not veil
Haces un muy buen trabajo. Sigue así.
When Caesar said "apes together strong" that was my least favourite episode of HBO's Rome
Superb video
If Australia actually produced steel with its iron ore, there would be no issue here but they don't. Without vertical integration of the iron ore to high-value steel Australia is just a sharecropper in the steel business.
As the US and British steelmakers have found, 'steel sharecropping' can be preferable to a state wide rust belt when your production costs fail to compete. Maybe I should say former steelmakers, since many are long dead.
The reason that China has many steel company across the country is because the bad relationship between China and Soviet Union back in 1970 when a military conflict broke between the two countries. Mao fear that Soviet could easily invade and take the whole Manchuria which most China's heavy industris are located, So Mao began the plans to move the indutries deep into the heart of the country. This is not only applied to steel industries. also other heavy industries.
So you can see there are automobile manufactor DONFGENG Auto( East Wind by meaning) that also make trucks in Hubei competed with the also state own company FAW in Changchun, Jilin. There are also two major company that produce Chinese military planes one is in Shenyang Liaoning, another is in Chengdu, Sichuan.
Seems Mao learned from Soviet Union and WW2
As an Australian, thanks for a great overview. I had not understood the situation. At the time it seemed like retaliation for China not getting control over Rio. I always wondered what happened to the Chinese citizens caught between their employer and their nation. Being jailed for 8 years for no good reason is pretty terrible. I hope some Rio executives have been funding this guy's pension because they owe him for taking the fall while they continued to make billions.
I believe this guy did take the money, but he did not make the deal done. That is why he got jailed. Also, I believe he took the money from every steel company which wants to buy a good deal ore from RIO. It is retaliation for China, but no one was clean.
There has been a lot of recent development. Iron ore price fell by half. China stopped importing iron ore and coking coal from Australia altogether. It pushed Australia in a recession. Usually this wouldn't work if there was real demand. However iron demand is a very complicated question because how fragmented steel industry is in china. Companies expand their capacity in good times recklessly. The central government had repeatedly to try to control it without success. But this time is different. Essentially coking coal is in short supply and import from Australia is banned. Even if local companies wanted to expand production they couldn't secure coking coals. So instead you see coking coal price skyrockets. However the most suppliers are actually within china. So the strategy now is to control coking coal quantity to rein in steel production to push down iron ore price. Another major reason is that real estate development is no longer an engine of growth as it used to be
Also after years tightening party discipline, few local chiefs dare to go against state policies
Yeh, China imports 60% of it's iron ore from Australia, that can't be replaced by anyone - not even Brazil. And I have no idea where you get a recession from, their GDP has increased 5.1% this year alone.
Lol ccp wumaos! Recession, yeah right!
@@brendanedwards2277 they just moved from real estate to, service sector,
I think,
china policy makers are very fast and efficient in their policy making,
thus can adapt to changed compared where policy is run by votes,
because well there are many quarrels before the policy will passed,
the ccp is known for it's backup plans anyway
@@ayami123 just because they're fast at making their policies doesn't mean their efficient or right! look at the one child policy, a massive failure which will have consequences for generations in China - ie a declining population, and nothing they do will turn that around.
Best Channel on youtube
It's so weird to see photos of rolling mills and to realize they are like the same. If you haven't seen them they are like transformers for maintenance and modification of billet dimensions. I rebuild gearboxes for steel mills and recently for the first time did inspections on the line. And man it's wild. And HOT even when nothings been used for 6 hours.
this was a pretty straightforward and fair presentation what was so sensitive about it.
As soon as you start talking about any sort of conflict between two nations, there will be blood. Most people can't see past their own chauvinism. Look at how the UK tries to blame Brexit on the EU, for example. This video was done as best as possible, with no personal opinion. I don't think anyone could have done better.
Anything on China seems to be a sensitive subject since pretty much every western media outlet is always some sort of anti-China narrative. Some people won't even watch the video and just comment directly about China. I think this video is well presented and clear to the point.
@@arewealone9969 usually there's a reason why people people bash on a country. You don't see the entire world bashing on the Spanish or the Swiss, do you ? I wonder what particular Chinese "traditions" might cause people to have a negative opinion of the entire country...
@@TheNefastor nah, it only started when,
chinese economy is on the rise to overtake USA,
just like what happen to the Japanese and American Trade war during the 80s
@@ayami123 and here we go with the fact-free biases again... I hate humans.
talked about price increase but not demand increase exact quantity. if demand goes up 38% then maybe justifies 38% price increase if more mines aren't coming on line.
I wonder who owns more of Australian mines Japan, China or US?
How many mines in China are invested by western countries? For rare-earth mines.
None. Western companies buy rare earths from Chinese companies. They don’t own any mines. It is a huge strategic vulnerability not just for the west but the entire world that China has a monopoly on rare earths.
Rare earth mines are not of interest, rare earths are NOT rare...
What China have is 90%? of rare earth REFINING capacity.
As an example, rare earths are mined in the USA BUT IT IS SHIPPED TO CHINA
@@qinby1182 jiggy roschbag is a typical “expert” who merely repeats what she’s heard from others…with no foundational facts
@Joe
_"You can't take money out of china."_
Rubbish, of course you can.
Do you really believe that company's like GM who produce and sell more cars in China would do that if they could not get their profit out of China???
Just the fact that in 2020 China was the country in the world with most Foreign Investments.
Do you belive most of investors in the world are mad???
There are one set of rules for Chinese, another for foreign companies, but both can send money out.
@@Joe-nq6hy Really: Ask Exxon, who just put up a $10 billion plastic plant, Tesla, McDonald's, KFC, Walmart, Sams Club, Costco, Starbuck, and hundreds of others. Even Google won't leave as they still make money there.
Always appreciate the subtitles, thanks! 🙏
Great video!
Just found your channel. Glad to see your work. Keep it up
Your post today has a slight error - The Australian Liberal Party is centre right, the Labour Party centre left.
Thanks for posting. Whenever we look for trouble in the world you can be fairly certain it stems from London
Ah yes, perfidious Albion.
I loved the kangaroo logo mimicking the deer logo. One of the most famous examples of convergent evolution. Thank you for that explanation. Brilliant. I really could not understand what was happening at the time except that I learned to hate Rio and the CCP as vicious and corrupt players - neither of whom should be allowed to have any control in Australia. A good assessment as time as both their actions has since proved.
"...I will try not to offend...apes together strong..." lol
Another great video.
5:54 It's not peculiar for "China Steel" to be in Taiwan, if you know a bit about history. "Taiwan" operates China Airlines as well, because "Taiwan" is actually the Republic of China, which was formed in 1912, and has never ceased existing since then.
You want to publish your rumors, Taiwan is Taiwan, the Republic of China is the history of China, and the Republic of China in 1912 is China
@@c雨颖 ""Taiwan" is actually the Republic of China, which was formed in 1912, and has never ceased existing since then."
I'm very confused by people like you. Who, I guess misread something I say in even the slightest, and think I'm a pro-CCP bot.
What's wrong with you? I clearly stated what you said, yet, you say I want to publish my rumors?
Seriously, what's wrong with you?
@@brennencox516 Taiwan is a province of China, and there is no Republic of China in this world, what are you not publishing rumors? Are you mentally ill?
Great reporting!
Thank you.
This information has provided context to help me understand the current AUS CH relationship turmoil.
Awesome work - fyi "Du Plessis" has a weird pronunciation.. a bit like do-ple-sea
100% correct
Haha
It's kinda like a french pronunciation
Correct
lol I just checked if you had a new video, watched another video and now there is a new video :D
A few points missing is that China demand has increases thru a lot of subsidies(which makes investor nervous that demand is not sustainable) & secondly Brazil loosing a lot of supply thru numerous dam failures as Brazil supply returns the iron ore price will drop a lot unless new demand comes from India.ATM other steel producers out of China are becoming very profitable as they can buy Australian Coking at a discount due to it being banned from China.
“Rio Tinto: Second Rate in Everything we do!”
Nice job. International mining should be up for some digging, although they very obviously are not.
I could mention remaining underground, but that is a little too much punning
Yep, when in a hole don't keep digging ...
5:55 China steel isn't an odd name, as 'Taiwan' is the Republic of China. That's why 'Taiwan' also has China Airlines as their flagship carrier.
Great video. Curious as to whether you'd do a video on Fortescue given it's growth is related to this.
1:56 2:08 2:44 7:21 7:59 8:37 9:39 10:15 10:29
As an entrepreneur, we all like to buy things for cheaps or free. It's a shark world not for the faint hearted. China aluminium has every right to buy on the cheaps. No one out a gun on Rio tinto head to sign. They did and they should honoured that. But based on their 200 years track record, China aluminium should have known better they would renegade
Rio left themselves an out and took it in the best interests of the company. Something an "entrepreneur" wouldn't think twice about doing. If Chinalco are so confident of their position where are the court proceedings?
@@FoxMcScrooge And where would you suggest that platform of court proceedings be held? In a biased kangaroo court western country? Pretty sure the Chinese firm will get a fair trial lmfao.
@@alf8652 I can guarantee you court proceedings anywhere in any Western country would be fairer than anything the CCP would come up with "Alf"
@@FoxMcScrooge You what is the one thing different between China court and that of Western? China courts cut to the chase. Western court like to go the whole nine yards and waste everyone's time. We both know there are no justice in either courts.I have had my fair shares of days in courts. I would stay away from court be it China's or western's. Many times it's best to walk away a looser like what China aluminium did
@@alf8652 No the difference is that in the West there is a clear separation of powers. That is to say, in the interests of justice and transparency, the judicial system in the West is independent of the legislative and executive branches of government. That isn't even close to being a concept to the CCP. Chinese courts don't "cut to the chase" as you put it. The Chinese judicial system is a weapon that the CCP uses as it sees fit and is in no way fair, transparent or just.
can u do a video about the led business in china?
Lead like the metal ore, or like LED displays
@@vojvoda-draza led
Compare this to the AWB scandal around the same time. Those bastards should have been jailed!
Nobody mention the...
rio tinto is disgusting, i really suggest you do a video on the current lithium situation with them in Serbia, that would be great :D
If Vale is Brazilian, it probably shouldn't be pronounced as the ski resort, but as two syllables va-le.
I recall that BHP sought to base iron prices on the spot market years before this actually happened. As number 3 behind Vale (Va-lay by the way) and Rio in iron they didn’t immediately get their way. Rio is and always was a second rate company.
Not a big deal, but it's closer to va-li
Make a video about Infineon or Pfeiffer Vacuum 🙏
It was hard for me to understand the whole story 😩. Still something going on
Information was there, cadence or something off for me though. But, I believe I got what I wanted out of watching.
This article, which I am only focusing on the expelling/incarceration on "the four" individuals, concerns an event that, it's Nexus" occured 26 years ago! I read several articles from various sources. However, most of them were from "The Wall Street Journal!
people don't realise how much steel is produced in China
Or Concrete. The world is running low on available Ocean sand. China has used more Concrete in 2018 & 2019 then was used by the USA in the all of the 20th Century.
@@laed3520 that cant be possible you are talking about greatest industrial age of america. While china didn't build much in 2018 19
The building frenzy stopped. You might talking abt 2013-15
Interesting to see that hostage diplomacy is not just something China invented with its recent dispute with Canada. I wasn’t following politics as much at the time but stern hu is not the last fall guy for a bad deal with the CCP. And I’d never thought I’d see a Barnaby Joyce quote I’d agree with but you managed to find one. Bravo!
The Canadian authority arrested the daugher of Huwaei founder and you called it China invented the hostage diplomacy? Sometimes i wonder what goes through some people's mind. 😵
@@harukrentz435 It’s the racism that goes through their minds and also the years of propaganda.
Who even got taken hostage when the Australian govt didnt even protest for Hu's jailing deeming it right ?
Are you saying Australian govt colluded with china to not care about Hu ?
Hostage is something like what happened to Huawei
No one goes to prison in hostage diplomacy
Incredible story
19:00 which compound was this villa in? might have known his neighbors 🤔
Well John as you might put it, the hornets nest has been kicked. Of course, have enjoyed the video and I do think you did a great job at presenting the situation. m as usual I will probably have to watch it again to take it all in.
Vale reads as "Vah as in "vast" and "le" as in lemon.
Rio tinto wanted to open a lithium mine here in serbia, thankfully protesters swayed the gov into not sealing the deal
Reneging on trade deals? Specialty of Western governments.
Taipei or Taiwan?
Fascinating stuff.
Thank you for an excellent video
its called hostage diplomacy
Feel really bad for Stern Hu. He was just crushed between CCP and a giant corporation, with no fault of his own.
Hu assumed the risk. As an employee of an organization known for sharp dealings, Hu wasn't ignorant of how things worked at the highest level. Doing business in China is not for innocents. Hu got caught. Probably 100 others have not been in the news.
The CCP executed a few of their own billionaires who grew too big for their boots, I'd say Hu got a good deal.
Its Billionaire who broke the law, else China will still be like India now, laden with corruptions while the people suffer
Okay that depends, as Hu is unlikely to comment on his condition that he went through and is unlikely to go on public record.
@@raylopez99 you should look at the Crown staff, O.o yeah.....
Minerals and natural resourses should be a national priority for all country. That's our trees and soil they sell all around the world. Letting other country or multinational do what ever they want with them just show the weakness of our gouvernement or our lack of jugment toward the future generation.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE talk about the Carlos Ghosn situation. That was like a James Bond movie. 😂 As for Mr. Ghosn, I believe he was an industrial spy and the Japanese found out and made up a story to boot him out of Nissan.
lolz made up eh?
they embezzled money and ran from the consequences.
There was also rumors that Ghosn was going to merge nissan and renault, since renault essentially controls nissan it would be mostly nissan being absorbed by renault. The japanese gov and nissan mgmt were not too happy about this.
The Nissan-Renault marriage was going badly and the Japanese justice system for whistle blowers is broken.
@@TheFirebird123456 that merger would have to be approved by Japan. Whether they were happy or not didn't make a difference they would never let it pass.
Ghosn is a criminal and he got ratted out by whistle blowers
@@ashishpatel350 *Put's on tin foil hat* I think that was a cover for the real reason Ghosn was ejected from Nisan. I dunno, the official story never sat right with me. 🥴
Omg this makes me sick.... The whole thing... Like for real it was always too much but what is the definition beyond that?
This is how business is done from ancient times to our present times.
Business is monopoly
Monopoly is business
If you cant compete with them sanction them & warn the others not to business with them or get sanction too
Rio always has a scape goat, dont you worry about that. They would have to be the worst backstabbing company I have ever worked for!!!
That was excellent.
In chess, what China did would be called a spite check in a lost position.
And australia did what would be called flipping the board.
Deal was agreed so the problem here is Rio pulling back not Aus or chinaInc
Rio should have been patient before making a deal
The cure for higher prices is higher prices to attract new players to increase supply causing decrease in demand, thereby lowering prices, regardless of the product or service in every free market . the problem with taking a company public is that it becomes a conflict of interests between short-term and long-term goals.
Funny how the conniving CCP failed to build their own mining companies and attempted to steal the mining companies as they steal intellectual property that set up shop in China. Reminds me of 1930's Japan trying to buy foreign resources to build their economy/country and when unable they invaded country-rich resources to satisfy the demand.
Rio Tinto as a whole needs to be arrested. They tanked an entire country FFS (PNG).
Law and order is completely and thoroughly a tool over there
What is the problem with the world? The problem is raw materials are scattered all over the world that everyone needs. And it could work with agreements. But factor in greed and cheating and you have a mess. Nobody cares for the other companies around the world that have people that need to make a living. The only way this is going to work is if there is a price agreed upon by all nations and a worldwide law against greed. If someone in the world goes against the price agreed upon, the world needs to demand that person be in prison because he violated the greed law.
Who is who? Who is Hu? Hu is who? Or Hu is Hu?
Rio tinto have been corrupt for decades. Glad those employers were jailed. ASIO has assetts inside all major mining companies.
Australian iron ore producers always complained that the Chinese would negotiate a price with the Brazilian producers then want the same price from Australia. Due to discounts required to compensate for the higher freight costs this represented substantial savings for the Chinese, and had the result of smaller volumes being sold under a contracted price and more being sold on the spot market.
Stern Hu's arrest has always seemed to be that he took bribes from Chinese sources and never actually delivered the information they wanted.
Higher freight costs from Australia?
@@lcg3092 Freight costs are higher from Brazil