Brazilian miner Vale, one of the world’s largest iron ore producers, said on Friday that market fundamentals for the commodity remain resilient despite prices in China hitting a one-year low this week.

The situation in China is “more balanced than domestic indicators suggest,” Vale’s executive vice president for commercial and development, Rogerio Nogueira, told a call with analysts.

Demand is also improving outside China, he added.

Iron ore futures on the Dalian exchange fell for a sixth straight session Friday, dropping 1.31% to 716 yuan ($106.14) per metric ton.

Vale, which has low-cost production and makes high-grade iron ore, said that if prices fall further, a significant portion of less competitive global miners would exit the market.

(By Marta Nogueira and Isabel Teles; Editing by Gabriel Araujo)