Australia warns China over iron ore pricing

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 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 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.

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.

China announced that it had secured a six-month iron ore supply contract with Australia’s Fortescue Metals at a price lower than those offered by the world’s top iron ore producers, a deal which will allow the country to continue its hard-line stance on negotiations with Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale

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."

Decision to sideline Beijing is remarkable as China is the largest iron ore importer, accounting for more than 50 per cent of the seaborne market