It is high time that China should establish its own price index capable of reflecting domestic iron ore price movement. China has been slow to look into such a mechanism when compared with some of the most commonly cited foreign statistics providers such as TSI, Platte and MBIO. There are indeed some Chinese versions of iron ore price index compiled by research institutes like Xinhua News Agency and industry websites such as Mysteel.com. The CISA is also planning to push forward a new iron ore price index. But all these efforts seemed too late to win a dominant position in the international market.

Therefore, China calls for the immediate creation of an authoritative iron ore index system on the basis of accurate statistics collected from actual transactions throughout the country. The index should be released by an independent organization to ensure an open and transparent representation of the market.

Moreover, this index should be more of a true feedback of actual transactions than being regarded as an avenue to maneuver the costs of iron ore.