China's “whole steel industry has been bribed” by Rio Tinto, according to an article in the China Daily newspaper that marks a sharp escalation in a dispute rocking the global steel and iron ore industries.
The state-owned China Daily yesterday quoted an unnamed “industry insider” claiming Rio bribed each of the 16 Chinese steel companies involved in this year's negotiations to set the benchmark iron ore price, a process that brings together steelmakers and suppliers of iron ore, steel's key ingredient.
Rio has made limited comment on the dispute that began on July 5 when Chinese authorities detained Stern Hu, an Australian who is the company's chief iron ore negotiator in China, along with three Chinese employees of the Anglo-Australian mining group.