RIO thinks Chinas steel demand will continue to grow:
"The Chinese GDP will double between now and 2020."
Mr Clayton said Rio was "not yet" encountering any flattening of demand.
"We think that China's steel intensity -- the amount of steel needed per person for urbanisation and industrialisation -- is still rising and that will peak out at somewhere around 650 tonnes per person." Mr Clayton said.
"I think there was some concern in the early months of the year, with some of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association information that was coming out that tended to raise the question about whether production was lower than was indicated.
"That tended to flow into a lot of questions we were getting around what was supporting iron ore prices. But some of the data that has just been released has tended to show that the trend is edging up towards 700 million tonnes per year and that is in line with what we are expecting."
Mr Clayton said Rio was comfortable with the situation and believed iron ore prices were well supported at current levels.
