Iron Ore Pricing in China: Financialization Through a Marxist Lens

We offer a Marxist interpretation of financialization as we examine the Chinese market for iron ore and the shift in the pricing mechanism from an annual fixed price to an indexed price from 2010. Drawing upon Marx's theory of the circuit of capital, we illustrate an empirical case of financialization that results from the conflict between social relations and productive forces in the international iron ore market. We demonstrate how the different ways of accounting for iron ore prices have corresponded to the social and productive relations underlying the process of financialization. We argue that the shift in the pricing mechanism from a fixed price to an indexed price demonstrates a process of financialization whereby the ‘meaning’ of iron ore itself also shifts from productive capital to commercial capital, and finally financial capital. Intense conflicts among the major stakeholders that represent the social relations and productive forces—the China Iron and Steel Association, the Big Three iron ore suppliers, and the Chinese iron ore market—combined with the implementation of accounting measurement techniques to facilitate financialization.