Vale Seen Overtaking BHP, Rio as Cheapest Iron Shipper
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Brazil’s Vale SA, the largest exporter of steel-making iron ore, has usurped its two nearest rivals to become the lowest-cost producer as a slump in the price of oil cuts shipping costs, according to Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd.
“In the last few months we have seen the price for bunker fuel collapse in lock-step with the decline in the global oil price and with it a reordering of the cost position of the global iron-ore industry has taken place,” Paul Gait, an analyst at Bernstein in London, wrote today in a report. Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd. are the biggest exporters after Vale. Their Australian mining hubs have traditionally held a cost advantage over Vale due to their proximity to China.