It’s reported that the Australian spot iron ore prices plunged to US$140/ton this Wednesday, down by 5.2% from US$147.7/ton in Tuesday, affected by China’s slow economic growth rate, European debt crisis and increased production of the three major iron ore suppliers.

Furthermore, the analyst of Australia& New Zealand Banking Group Ltd predicted that the iron ore prices may dip to break US$140/ton in the near future. Also, it indicated that China’s slow economy was the major reason to depress the Australian iron ore prices.

According to statistics, China’s economic growth rate slowed to 9.1% in the Q3, hitting the lowest level over the past two years.