Vale, the world's largest producer of iron ore, expects prices of the mineral to remain largely stable this year, even after they dropped for seven days straight in their longest losing streak in more than three months.
Chief financial officer Tito Martins said strong Chinese demand, lack of significant new supply and cutbacks in exports from India would help shore up prices.
'China's demand is still very strong,' he said. 'We don't see [significant] newcomers or projects, even though some projects will come on stream this year, they are mostly of poor quality with low iron content, which will not affect the market.'
China accounted for 44.1 per cent of Vale's total iron ore sales volume last year, compared with 18.9 per cent for Europe, 13.4 per cent for Brazil and 11 per cent for Japan.
The price of ore with 62 per cent iron content fell at the Tianjin port for seven consecutive days to US$137.4 a tonne yesterday, the tumble since late October, according to Bloomberg. It was prompted by slow purchases due to increased stockpiles.
Brazil-based Vale aims to raise sales by 4.3 per cent to 312 million tonnes this year, after sales edged up 1.6 per cent last year to 299 million tonnes, Martins said.