Chinese mills agree 33% cut in Aussie ore contracts: Reuters

Beijing: Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have secured agreement from Chinese steel mills to a 33 percent price cut in iron ore, three separate sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters, effectively winning a long-running pricing battle that has become subsumed in a spying row between China and Australia.
The sources, including people on both sides of the negotiations, said some mills had agreed to a 6 month contract and some a year, but there would be no formal announcement by the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA).
CISA officials were not immediately available to comment.  [15/07/09]