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By Min Zhang and Shivani Singh
BEIJING, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto, one
of the world's top iron ore miners, signed its first spot
trading contract denominated in Chinese Renminbi on Friday, in
an effort to diversify procurement channels for Chinese
customers.
The Anglo-Australian mining giant held a signing ceremony at
Rizhao Port in China's eastern province of Shandong, offering
10,000 tonnes of mid-grade iron ore SP10 to Shanxi Gaoyi Steel
Co Ltd, said Zhang Qi, director of foreign ore at the Shanxi
firm.
"We believe port sales could potentially help us to better
serve our existing customers, as well as potentially opening up
an opportunity to sell to new customers who do not participate
in the seaborne market," a Rio Tinto representative was quoted
as saying.
Portside sales of Rio Tinto's products at Chinese ports are
currently sold via traders. Brazilian mining giant Vale SA
launched yuan-denominated spot trading in 2016.
China imported 684.9 million tonnes of the steelmaking raw
material in the first eight months of 2019. The weak Chinese
currency is increasing the cost of seaborne iron ore.
The portside trading channel is only aiming to promote Rio
Tinto's niche products for now, the representative said.
(Reporting by Min Zhang and Shivani Singh; editing by David
Evans)
