China could take over from Japan as Asia’s price setter in annual iron ore negotiations, possibly from next year, the world’s top producer Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) said.

In an interview with Australia’s ABC TV’s Inside Business programme, Brazil’s CVRD said China had lagged Japan in settling contracts this year because it was “not so fast” and still coming to grips with market negotiations.
But China, which imports almost twice as much iron ore as Japan, wanted to be the price setter in Asia and would soon take the leading role, Jose Carlos Martins, CVRD’s executive director, said.
“I think they deserve it by the size they have. I think they will. But they need to be faster ... in their decision-making process,” he said.
China is now the world’s biggest importer of iron ore. Its steel-making industry is expected to consume around 300 million tonnes of ore imports in 2006.
Japan set the price tone for Asia this year by agreeing in the middle of May to a 19 per cent price rise with CVRD and major Australian producers Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton. European steel makers have also accepted a similar price rise for their iron ore supplies. China has been reluctant to accept the price, although CVRD said it was confident that China’s mills would fall into line with their rival producers.
Australia is the world’s biggest iron ore trader, slightly ahead of Brazil with a share of around 40 percent of the booming global market. It is forecast to export around A$18 billion (US$14 billion) worth of the ore in 2006/07.
China needed to re-focus from a China-centric position to see iron ore as a global market, and to come more to terms with  market-oriented negotiations, Martins said.