Spot iron ore prices forecast to stay high

QINGDAO, Shandong province - Spot iron ore prices will remain high this year as supply remains controlled by a few big suppliers, an official from China's industry group said on Tuesday, although traders said slower demand from top buyer China may weaken prices in the near term.

"Iron prices will stay high and fluctuate this year as the raw material is becoming more financialized and still in monopoly," Liu Yinan, vice-chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, said at an industry conference.

China, home of the world's largest steel industry, has complained that big iron ore miners are trying to force spot pricing on their Chinese customers after Vale SA and Rio Tinto Group ditched a decades-old annual pricing system in favor of a more flexible quarterly scheme last year.