Steelmakers for transparent iron ore prices

OAO Severstal, Russia's largest steelmaker, and Fortescue Metals Group said iron ore should be priced in a "transparent" manner, as the largest producers move to end a practice of annual closed-door negotiations.

"Transparency is the most important thing," Alexander Grubman, head of Severstal's resource unit, said yesterday at the Asia Mining Congress in Singapore. Steelmakers and iron ore producers need a "predictable and transparent mechanism" because both are capital-intensive businesses, he said.

The four-decade tradition of setting prices through annual contracts broke last year when Chinese steelmakers, the biggest buyer of iron ore, did not reach an accord with Vale SA, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton.

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