There has been resistance in Europe to the iron ore joint venture between BHP Billiton
(ASX:BHP) and Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) and now China has expressed concern about the effect of the tie up of the mining giants’ Pilbara operations.
A report in China Daily News said yesterday that the deal was putting severe price pressure on Chinese iron and steel companies and it was planning to respond.
The report said that China had been considering integrating smaller companies into several bigger players. The report said this must now happen sooner to protect Chinese firms.
BHP and Rio signed a binding agreement for their joint venture on Saturday.
BHP Billiton’s 2009 net profit was $7.243 billion and Rio Tinto’s 2008 net profit was $5.306 billion.
