Implied spot prices for Australian iron ore are at a record high, despite concerns over Greece's economic woes having sliced 10 per cent to 20 per cent from the prices of exchange-traded metals in the past month.

The disparity influences the disproportionate impact the Chinese economy has on the price of iron ore, compared with other metals such as copper, nickel and aluminium.

Iron ore is forecast to be the nation's biggest export product this financial year, ahead of coking coal.

"The iron ore market is still very undersupplied and obviously the price, in absolute terms, is actually quite high," Mr Kloppers said yesterday on the ABC's Inside Business.

"I really can't predict how it develops over the next 12 months, but . . . if I look at forward trade activity, the trade patterns indicate we'll stay more or less at the levels that we've got now."

Spot iron ore prices into China have come off slightly in recent weeks to around $US185 a tonne, but are still within 10 per cent of the record $US197.50 set in mid-2008, before the global financial crisis.

Because freight, which is paid by the customer, is up to $US40 a tonne less than it was in the boom before the crisis, Australian miners are getting more for iron ore sold at spot or index prices than they would have during the boom before the crisis.

At current spot freight prices of around $US15 a tonne, the implied price for Australian iron ore at Pilbara ports is about $US170 a tonne, compared with about $US150 a tonne at the height of the previous boom.

Sourced from www.theaustralian.com.au