Iron ore majors ramp up supply even as China faces challenges
Iron ore is one of the year’s worst performing major commodities, slumping by almost a quarter as China’s property crisis drags on.
Brazilian miners do not expect changes in the level of investments in the sector regardless of the outcome of the country’s fast-approaching presidential runoff, a leader of top industry association Ibram said on Thursday.
Brazil, Latin America’s biggest economy, is nearing the end of campaigning ahead of a second-round runoff election between leftist former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro. The final vote will take place on Oct. 30.
Lula, who governed from 2003-2010, is slightly ahead in the polls, but the gap has been narrowingwhile many dismiss the surveys outright since nearly all significantly underestimated Bolsonaro’s support in the first-round vote earlier this month.
“The two (candidates’) stances, even though they are quite different, in one we would have a certain continuity of the current policy… and in the other it would be something that has already been observed,” said Julio Nery, Ibram’s sustainability and regulations director.
Nery stressed he does not foresee major policy deviations on mining from either Lula or Bolsonaro.
“That’s why we don’t expect there to be a flight of investments due to the election,” said Nery.
Ibram has previously come out against a potential proposal from Lula that would raise royalties on certain mining projects.
The Ibram association includes major miners like Vale SA, Anglo American PLC and Rio Tinto Ltd.
Mining companies are seen investing about $40 billion in projects in the South American country through 2026, with 10% going to social and environmental projects, according to Ibram data.
(By Marta Nogueira and Peter Frontini; Editing by David Gregorio)
Comments
Leo Holmes
It’s interesting to see how Brazilian politics have changed over the years, particularly the influence of evangelicals. When I lived in Brazil in the early ‘90s, I got the impression that evangelicals were a fringe movement, definitely not part of the mainstream and with very little political power.