Wu Rongqing, chief engineer at the industry development department of the
China Mining Association (CMA), stated on Wednesday, March 23, that overseas
iron ore mines owned by Chinese enterprises are expected to supply 110 million mt of
iron ore to
China in 2011, up 22 percent compared with the supply volume of 90 million mt in 2010.
In addition, Mr. Wu said that, in the context of high international
iron ore prices,
China will be able to improve its domestic
production volume of
iron ore. Domestic output of
iron ore is expected to reach 1.5 billion annually by 2015, he said. Northeastern
China, Hebei Province and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province will be the main areas driving the growth of domestic
iron ore output in the future. Meanwhile, he predicted that the current tight
iron ore supply situation in
China will be changed to a situation of sufficient supplies by 2013 or 2014.