Australia urges China to keep out of iron ore talks

A Chinese industrial group has urged domestic steel companies to stop buying iron ore from the world's top three miners in protest of an alleged price monopoly, state media said Monday.The China Iron and Steel Association has asked domestic steel firms and traders not to import iron ore from Australia's Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale for two months, the China Net, a government news website said.

A Chinese industrial group has urged domestic steel companies to stop buying iron ore from the world's top three miners in protest over an alleged price monopoly, state media said on Monday.The China Iron and Steel Association has asked domestic steel firms and traders not to import iron ore from Australia's Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton and Brazil's Vale for two months, the China Net, a government news website, said.

China's steel industry has sent a high-level delegation to Brazil to gather support for a campaign opposing BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto's iron ore joint venture in Australia, a report said on Monday.The Financial Review newspaper said officials from the China Industry and Steel Association flew to Brazil last week seeking closer ties with Vale, the world's top iron producer."They have a common concern about the competition between Australia and Brazil," an unnamed Chinese steel mill official was quoted as saying.

Australia on Wednesday resumed free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap, sweeping aside a brief plunge in ties to focus on a booming partnership tipped to deliver decades of growth.Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia's vast resources sector was the subject of intense interest from China, but that Canberra was also keen to gain greater access to the huge Chinese market."We need a new framework that reflects that interest, but a framework that (also) reflects the importance of investment as a two-way street," Crean said.

Australia will resume stalled talks with China within days as it pursues an ambitious free-trade push following its strong recovery from the global downturn, Trade Minister Simon Crean said.He said discussions with China would open in Canberra next week, while Australia was also in talks with Japan and South Korea and was studying a deal with India.He said Canberra and Beijing were strongly committed to free-trade negotiations which stumbled on technical issues before diplomatic ties suffered a series of setbacks last year.

Australia on Wednesday resumed free-trade talks with China after a 14-month gap, sweeping aside a brief plunge in ties to focus on a booming partnership tipped to deliver decades of growth.Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia's vast resources sector was the subject of intense interest from China, but that Canberra was also keen to gain greater access to the giant Asian country's market."We need a new framework that reflects that interest, but a framework that (also) reflects the importance of investment as a two-way street," Crean said.

Australia on Friday voiced confidence its vital trade ties with China would not be harmed by next week's sensitive trial of an Australian mining executive charged with bribery and industrial espionage.Trade Minister Simon Crean said Australia did not link the case of Rio Tinto's Stern Hu, set to be tried along with three Chinese colleagues, with the booming resources sales that have made China its top trading partner.

Australia has sought to assure China that a controversial new mining tax would not drive up the prices of commodities it is importing in vast quantities.Trade Minister Simon Crean told reporters in Shanghai that the 40 percent Resources Super Profits Tax would raise supply by replacing flat royalty fees, encouraging smaller projects."It is likely to increase the supply of those exports," Crean said late on Wednesday, according to an official transcript."It will not increase the price, because it's not a tax on consumption, it's a tax on profits."