China Concerned About Tax Impact on Iron Ore Prices

作者:25 发布时间:2010-05-21 文字大小:【大】【中】【小】
 May 20 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s biggest buyer of iron ore, has expressed concern about the impact on iron ore prices of Australia’s planned mining tax, Trade Minister Simon Crean said today.

“The issue was raised,” Crean told reporters at the Shanghai Expo. The proposed 40 percent tax is on resource project profits, not on consumption, and should encourage mining companies to increase supply, he said.

Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd., the second- and third-largest iron ore exporters, are reviewing projects in Australia after the government unveiled the tax this month. Chinese steelmakers were asked to pay 90 percent to 100 percent more for iron ore for the three months started April 1, as suppliers took advantage of the global economic recovery, according to the China Iron & Steel Association.

The tax proposal shouldn’t increase prices of commodities, Crean said yesterday in Shanghai, according to a transcript provided by the Australian government. It will benefit less profitable companies by replacing royalties paid on production, he said.

The government’s model suggests that the tax revamp will result in a 6 percent to 7 percent increase in mining investment, which will increase supplies, Crean said yesterday.

Mining companies’ earnings may be cut by almost a third when the tax starts in 2012, Moody’s Investors Service said this week.

--Helen Yuan. Editors: Tan Hwee Ann, Andrew Hobbs.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Hobbs at ahobbs4@bloomberg.net; Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net

Sourced from www.businessweek.com