BNamericas reported that falling prices of iron ore and other commodities are not worrying Brazilian development bank BNDES

Mr Luciano Coutinho president of BNDES said that prices will bounce back because he believes Asia's voracious consumption of minerals will remain high. He added that "Commodity prices have a level of sustainability. This ongoing global financial crisis could force prices to fall, but prices will rebound because of the growth of developing economies."

Mr Coutinho expects Asian economies, especially China's, to be in a condition to maintain the level of commodity prices despite an expected decrease in annual economic growth to 9.5% from 12%. He added that "China will continue to be the top buyer of Brazilian commodities. This will allow prices to be sustained at levels that create export opportunities for both agricultural and products in the mining and metals chain."

As a main financier of Brazilian industry, BNDES funded the metallurgical industry with BRR 1.87 billion in January to August 2008 period, the equivalent to 4% of all industrial disbursements. Also through August 2008, the bank approved loans of BRR 2.62 billion for the metallurgical sector, while approvals totaled BRR 3.49 billion in the last 12 months.

The mining sector, which for BNDES includes petroleum extraction, received BRR 1.79 billion in the first eight months and was approved for a total BRR 10.6 billion in the same period.