Posco nod for Rio price cut

Posco, Asia's third-largest steel mill, agreed to a 33 percent cut in iron ore prices with Rio Tinto Group, the world's second-biggest supplier, adding to pressure on Chinese mills to accept it as a benchmark.

The agreement matched the prices that London-based Rio agreed on May 26 with Japanese steelmakers, Choi Youn Joung, a spokeswoman for the Pohang, South Korea-based company, said yesterday by phone.

Posco joins its larger rivals Nippon Steel Corp and JFE Holdings Inc in accepting the second-highest annual contract price on record. Mills in China, the world's biggest steel producing nation, haven't reached agreement and have previously called for a cut of as much as 50 percent as steel demand shrinks with the global recession.