Reuters alone with Brazil forecast on 2009 iron ore output

The chairman of Brazil’s industry-funded mining institute, Ibram, told Reuters in an exclusive interview on August 12 that a fall in iron ore output this year from the world’s top exporter of the steel ingredient would not be as deep as previously expected. Ibram’s Paulo Camillo Penna said iron output would likely fall by around one fifth and that China’s iron imports in 2009, which stand one third above the year-ago level, were being rapidly consumed and not stocked - a signal that high demand would be sustained. Shares in Vale, the world’s largest iron ore producer and exporter, closed 0.83 percent higher on the day of publication.