Chinese iron ore has too high foreign dependence

In 2012, the dependence on foreign iron ore in China was close to 70%. With the decline in iron ore production and taste in China, the degree of dependence on iron ore may increase further.

Wang Yingsheng indicated at the “2013 China International Mining Conference” that in the past five years, China’s dependence on foreign iron ore has been on an upward trend. In 2009, it exceeded 60% for the first time to approach 70%, and it is still close to 70% in 2012.

China Steel Association data show that in September this year, China's imports of iron ore increased by 8.1% from the previous quarter to 74.58 million tons, of which imports from Australia were close to 40 million tons, more than half of the total imports of the month; January-September The cumulative import of 600 million tons, an increase of 9.0%, of which, the proportion of imports from Australia increased by 3.93 percentage points.

According to Wang Yingsheng, the four major mines except the Vale have maintained their output growth this year, of which FMG’s output growth has been particularly noticeable. The four major mines in 2013-2015 plan to increase production by 470 million tons. In addition, there are other new mines that have plans to expand production. The supply of iron ore will increase substantially in the future.