The price of iron ore has continued its rapid descent, closing out last week at a new five-year low.

At the end of the offshore Friday session, benchmark iron ore for immediate delivery to the port of Tianjin in China was trading at $US75.50 a tonne, down 0.2 per cent from its previous close of $US75.60.

The fall represented the 11th negative session out of the last 12, with the commodity giving up 7.5 per cent during this period, from levels above $US81 a tonne.

The iron ore price has now lost 45 per cent in 2014, with current levels the lowest since June 2009.

The latest moves follow comments from key Brazilian producer Vale that hinted at a rationalisation of supply in coming years.

“Because of the extraordinarily high price before, many suppliers came into the market, even very rudimentary and manual and family businesses, trying to produce iron ore in every possible way. At $150, everybody wants to ship some,” Claudio Alves, global director of ferrous marketing and sales at Vale, said, according to Bloomberg.

“They will have to go out and market will balance.”