$40 billion

Loss for Brazilian producer Vale SA due to free-falling iron ore prices

Free falling iron ore prices have cost Brazilian producer Vale SA about $40 billion (Dh147b) in market capitalization and the title of Latin America’s most valuable company.

Vale’s 32 per cent collapse from a late-July peak makes the Rio de Janeiro-based miner cheaper than MercadoLibre Inc., an e-commerce powerhouse now worth $90 billion after a strong fintech performance last quarter.

The changing of the guard — with a new-economy platform taking top spot from a 79 year-old raw-material producer — may be consolidated as Chinese efforts to clean up its heavy-polluting industrial sector send iron ore below $100 a metric ton.