It is said from Shan Shanghua (general secretary of China Iron & Steel Association) that CISA will strictly adopt a unified price and the agency system for imported iron ores next year.

CISA is reported to have removed about 10 enterprises off the list of companies with iron ore import qualification, while the association always added some new members to list in the past years. “It shows how determined CISA is in regulating the market.” Said an official with CISA.

A senior official of Shandong Iron & Steel told 21st Century Business Herald that CISA is actually preparing for the 2010 international iron ore negotiations now.

“Although CISA declares that negotiations for the 2009 prices are still going on, there won’t be any new results. We have begun preparing for the 2010 negotiations, but haven’t stated any real talk with the three iron ore suppliers.”

The senior official said.The three iron ore suppliers are Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.At mid September, Tom Schutte, chief of BHP’s Sales Department, said that the talk for iron ore price in 2010 would start this October.

Although iron ore price talk is declared to start in October each year, the routine is that the real negotiation only begins in next year’s January, and both sides use the strategy of “playing for time” to add to its bargaining chip.Investment banks like Goldman Sacks, Merrill Lynch, UBS and JP Morgan, expect the iron ore price of long-term contracts may rise between 10 to 20 percent in 2010.However, Zeng Jiesheng, analyst with China’s information provider MySteel.com, says the investment banks may be exaggerating and the final price will largely rely on the market demand and supply.

According to MySteel.com statistics, Iron ore stock at major Chinese ports reached 73.32 million tons by 18 September. Currently, Chinese steel plants and traders are stocking iron ores on a dim outlook towards the 2010 international talk.

It is said from the European Union on Thursday that deciding to slap five-year duties on steel pipe imported from China on alleged dumping charges.

The long-term tariffs were up to 39.2 percent as a punishment to Chinese exporters for allegedly selling seamless pipe and tubes below cost in the EU, the European Commission said.

The decision was based on a vote at the end of July by trade officials and experts from EU member states.

The five-year duties, which are much higher than the provisional ones imposed in April, will take effect after the EU’s Official Journal publishes the decision by Oct. 8.

The 27-bloc imposed provisional duties of up to 24.2 percent in April on such products imported from China.

The EU began to a probe in July 2008 over a dumping complaint by a group of European producers.

Despite a commitment to fight protectionism made at the G-20 summits in Washington and London, the EU has tended to resort to protectionism to protect its own producers in recent years.

It has refused to recognize China’s market economy status, taking advantage to imposed tariffs on Chinese products including shoes, steel wire, pipes, tubes and bicycles.

The practice not only hurts Chinese exporters but also European consumers, according to consumer groups in Europe.

It is said from a nonferrous market information provider on Wednesday that China’s copper stocks could approach a record high of 1.2 million tons, including copper both from the government reserves and market stocks.

According the report, such large stocks are enough for domestic consumption for about 80 days.

The country’s copper stocks were estimated at 670,000 tons in May and 735,000 tons in July. That means the stocks have increased by almost six times in August and September, mainly due to large imports in July and August.

Within the 1.2 million tons of copper stocks, the government reserves are 235,000 tons.  Antaike has raised its forecast for China’s copper consumption from 5.3 million tons to 5.5 million tons this year. However, the domestic copper consumption hasn’t yet improved substantially.

In the face of high stocks, some copper enterprises say they may try to promote sales or add short positions in the futures market before the National Day Holiday at the beginning of October.