The iron ore game has traditionally never been a particularly risky business. The trade restrictions affecting beef, barley, rock lobsters and wine have nothing on the current fight over the price of iron ore. Every day, dozens of buyers are ordering dozens of different iron ore shipments in dozens of different markets. When Alan Kohler is on the ABC talking about iron ore he is quoting something called the Platts Iron Ore Index. Beijing wants iron ore miners to use a Chinese benchmark, which, shockingly, is consistently lower than the Platts price.