| Australia's three major iron ore producers, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals, are feeling the pressure of the slump in the commodity's price this year. During the past week all have gone on the offensive to convince the investment community that the problems are not of their own making, and that they have strategies to mitigate the downside to earnings.
With the price in freefall, investment banks and their commodity experts are updating their outlooks at increasingly closer intervals. At the start of the year the general consensus – to the extent there is one – was a price of about $US100 ($119) per tonne, they are now closer to $US70 a tonne. The outlyers are far lower. For the most part this exercise is not rocket science, rather the forecasters are just following the price down. ..............................................Full Article: Source
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