Australian iron producers expect further price drop

Australian iron ore producers expect the prices of their products to reach record lows while asserting the price weakness is only passing phase.
Iron ore prices fell 4.1 percent on Friday to 91.80 U.S. dollars a tonne, the lowest since September 2012.
All Australia's iron ore miners are affected by the weakness including BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto however smaller companies with higher costs are the worst hit.
Fortescue Metals Group, the country's third-biggest producer, Atlas Iron and Mount Gibson Iron say a further decline past the 86. 90 dollars a tonne low of Sept. 4, 2012, can be expected.
That would set prices on a trend down to depths not seen since 2009.
However demand remains firm, and the outlook remains positive in the medium term, the producers say.
Prices on Friday sank 4.1 percent at Tianjin port in China, the world's key market for global iron ore trade.
Friday's price drop took the decline so far this year to almost a third, including a 13 percent slump in May, when it crashed through to double figures for its sixth straight monthly decline