Vale disaster could see Brazil’s iron-ore competitive edge slip away

The January 25 Brumadinho dam disaster is expected to knock Brazil’s competitiveness in the global iron-ore market and will elicit a supply response from mines in China, as well as new projects that could be brought on line in the next few years. This is according to analysts at London-based CRU, who say that the dam breach will not only have an immediate impact on iron-ore supply, prices, quality and pellet premia, but also a long-term impact on the Brazilian iron-ore industry’s competitiveness as quality deteriorates and production costs increase.