Global iron ore pricing: Singapore has more clout than China

Singapore

IN the US$7 billion-a-day global iron ore futures market, size doesn't matter when it comes to clout. Contracts in Singapore have greater pricing power than those traded in China even though the volumes in the city-state are more than 20 times smaller, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Although investors may assume that it's the Dalian Commodity Exchange, or DCE, that sets the global price given the high volumes, it's the contract on the Singapore Exchange, or SGX, that drives the market, the bank said in a report.