Brazil's Vale says not worried about iron ore prices

Sat Oct 8, 2011

MANJUNG, Malaysia Oct 8 (Reuters) - Brazilian iron ore giant Vale SA said on Saturday it was not concerned about iron ore prices despite a recent drop in the price of copper.

"We will look at the market and see how it behaves 2-3 months," Vale executive director Jose Martins told reporters at the groundbreaking ceremony of the company's $1.3 billion iron ore distribution centre in Malaysia's northern Perak state.

"We are not concerned about the behaviour of the price because we follow the market. Whatever the market says we follow. We are not pricemakers, we are price followers."

Copper capped its biggest weekly gain in more than six months with a 2 percent burst on Friday as encouraging U.S. job data helped the metal recover after falling to a 14-month low early this week.

Martins said any decision to change Vale's settlement currency from the US dollar to Chinese yuan would depend on how convertible the yuan is, with any decision to make it more convertible "very welcomed".

(sourced Reuters)