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Rio Tinto shifts more iron ore sales to short-term pricing

February 09, 2012 - 07:18 GMT Location: Singapore

KEYWORDS: Rio Tinto , iron ore , Australia , Pilbara

Rio Tinto sold around 60% of its iron ore on current-quarter, spot, or monthly contracts in the last quarter of 2011, underlining the move towards more flexible pricing in the iron ore market.

The miner is moving away from quarterly contracts priced against an earlier reference period, to a more “diversified” approach, it said. “In the fourth quarter, approximately 40% of sales were priced with reference to a quarterly average index set at the prior quarter’s average lagged by one month. The remainder was sold on a shorter-term price basis linked to current-quarter average, current-month average or spot index prices,”...

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