The price of iron ores imported by China fell sharply, with the plunge of ocean freight of iron ores on the global market, according to gz-metal.cn, a South China metal market information website.

     The freight of iron ores from Brazil to China dropped 22.422 USD/ton, or 32.6 percent from the beginning of September, and the freight of those from Western Australia fell 11.41 USD/ton, or 43 percent.

     Some analysts attributed the fall to the following two facts.

     Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, or Vale, the Brazilian giant miner, raised the contract prices of iron ores to Asian market and stopped relevant supplies after the denial of Chinese steel makers, which led to the drop of international iron ore ocean freight.

     Besides, the output decline of Chinese steel makers exerted a negative influence on the iron ore shipping volume.

     According to professional analysts, the transport capacity of railways, ports and ships has become insufficient amid the surging market demand since 2003, driving up the global iron ore prices greatly for six consecutive years, with a growth rate of 71.5 percent in 2005 and 65-96.5 percent in 2008.

     The prices of Australian iron ores in 2008 increased 410 percent from six years ago, while those of Brazilian iron ores rose 370 percent.

     At the same time, the global iron ore providers including the top three giant miners (Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto) tried all to expand production, with such super-large mines as Hopedowns and GMG with annual output hitting 50 million tons emerging. As a result, the market started to see signs of oversupply in 2008.