Dearie me! From the AFR:
Glencore is suspending its Australian coal business for three weeks, to avoid pumping tonnes into a heavily oversupplied market at depressed prices.
The move could be a challenge to iron ore majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, who Glencore chief Ivan Glasenberg has attacked for dramatically expanding production in the face of falling iron ore prices.
Glencore surprised the market on Friday, saying it would shut its Australian coal business for three weeks, starting mid-December, shaving about 5 million tonnes of output.
…Some market observers have said Mr Glasenberg’s push for a highly unlikely mega merger with Rio could in fact be an attempt to force its target to agree to a merger of the two majors’ Hunter Valley businesses.
Well, Ivan Glasenberg ain’t boring. And perhaps this is about coal, but it’s pretty odd given it’s Glencore that’s expanded most in thermal coal – up 13 million tonnes in the last year to 94 million tonnes – but whatever, it kills any larger bid For RIO.
There is absolutely no way the Chinese, via Chinalco or its regulators, will accede to this behaviour, as underlined by the news today that FMG is now a Chinese steel mill stooge.
