Due to the fluctuations and vicissitudes of world economy, and the vagaries of pricing, balance of trade and other

push and pull of raw materials and their consequences, world crude steel production decreased from 1326.6 Mt in 2008 to 1219.0 Mt in 2009, a straight fall of -8.1 %. But on one hand, while most of the world saw falling production, crude steel production in China increased by 13.5 %, a significant percentage compared to the 2.3 % growth the year before. Interestingly, on account of its rigorous facilities, equipment and favourable government policies directed towards the growth of its economy, China now accounts for almost half of the world production of crude steel (47 %). In 2010, Chinese steel production was the vital and one of the most important factors to drive growth, but there has been some growth in most other crude steel producing countries as well, compared to the year before. The total output of crude steel in 2010 has been around 1410 Mt (similar to the record year of 2007). The latest short term forecast of World Steel Association, the renowned global steel association for global steel use anticipates a rise in steel use by 11.7 % in 2012. There also has been a fall in the world production of iron ore which fell by 5.8% in 2010 to 1.8 billion tons. After seven years` consecutive growth period, this was the first fall in production which resulted in the decrease of output in most countries, with exceptions such as South Africa and Australia but this was not sufficient to arrest the fall. China which used to be the biggest producer has now been pushed down (on the converted iron ore content basis) to fourth place after Australia, Brazil, and India. In spite of the global downturn, iron ore trade reached unprecedented levels in 2009 which resulted in exports increasing for the eighth year in a row and reached 955 Mt, up 7.4 % compared to 2008. This notable increase was the byproduct of higher demand in China coupled with a fall in domestic production. In early 2011, the annual bench mark negotiation process was finished. Despite vociferous opposition mainly from steel companies from China, reinforced with steady support from Japanese and European steel related organizations, there was nothing that could make it live. Now the present norm is a quarterly semi-negotiated price which has augmented uncertainty and reduced the transparency levels of the iron ore market. This also means that the published series of spot prices are still not 100% reliable and prices are no longer announced like they used to be.