Vale, the biggest producer of iron ore in the world, announces to reduce iron ore price and suspend its some parts of nickel production due to sluggish economy and tumbling market demand in China.
The company indicates that the iron ore price has been cut to around US$103.29/ton lately, down by nearly 30% from a year ago. The slump also made the firm's net profit down by 58.7% in Q2 of 2012 year-on-year, which is the lowest since 2010.
The below expected iron ore price has reflected the deterioration of global economy. However, Vale believes the iron ore price would rebound to around US$120/ton in short term after Chinese government adopts a sequence of economic stimulus plans in the second half of 2012