TOKYO -- The global steel industry is contending with an increasingly volatile market for iron ore, an essential input whose price has been on a roller-coaster ride driven by inflows of speculative investment.
At the Singapore Iron Ore Forum in late April, executives from Asian steelmakers vented their frustration at what has become an almost monthly cycle of wild ups and downs in the commodity. Some steel producers are embracing financial derivatives -- something Japanese majors had been reluctant to do -- to shield themselves from this volatility.
