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Rio appoints new iron ore envoy, denies Hu link
Sydney (AFP) Dec 11, 2009 Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto said Friday it had replaced its chief iron-ore negotiator ahead of critical price talks with China, but denied links to the arrest of executive Stern Hu. Rio Tinto spokesman Gervase Greene said former strategic marketing manager for iron ore Danny Goeman would take the lead role in the coming talks as part of a company-wide restructure. "Danny's principal responsibility will be to lead iron ore price negotiations on behalf of (Rio subsidiary) Hamersley Iron," Rio management said in an internal memo seen by AFP. The restructure aimed at addressing the "increasing complexities of the Asian market", the memo said. As marketing general manager for Asia, Goeman will take the negotiating role from Asia president Will Malaney, who will focus exclusively on managing Asian sales, Greene told AFP. Malaney was at the helm of Rio's iron ore price talks for six years, including fraught negotiations which lapsed following the detention of Hu and three of his colleagues in Shanghai in July on claims of industrial espionage. The arrests were seen by some as a sign of China's frustrations with the talks. But Greene said any suggestion the reshuffle was linked to Hu's detention was "laughable". "Very little has changed," he told AFP. "There's less to it than meets the eye." The world's second-largest producer of iron ore, Rio has long been a backer of the decades-old benchmark system, under which the first price agreed between a miner and steelmaker becomes an industry standard for the next 12 months. Rio in September said it had suspended negotiations with China and was shipping iron ore to China on a "provisional" price based on its benchmark agreement with Japan. Iron ore chief Sam Walsh last month hinted that there could be a different pricing mechanism for China to the rest of the world in 2010, after Rio boss Tom Albanese said the benchmark system had to evolve "or it will break". Hu remains in detention without charge, and Chinese authorities recently extended their probe of his case by two months to mid-January. Share This Article With Planet Earth
Related Links Global Trade News
China aims to boost domestic demand, exports: state mediaBeijing (AFP) Dec 7, 2009 China's top leaders pledged on Monday to maintain pro-growth economic policies put in place during the global slowdown and continue a push to make domestic demand a new pillar of the economy. The promise came at the end of a key annual economic meeting chaired by President Hu Jintao that sets the policy tone for the coming year, Xinhua news agency said. Typically, few ... read more |
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