Luo Bingsheng, the executive vice chairman of the China Iron & Steel Association (CISA), has predicted that the steel market in China will indicate a better performance in 2010.
Mr. Luo based his opinion on the evidence of demand. In China demand for steel products has been increasing steadily and China is at present going through a phase of urbanization, he said. Looking at the development of the steel industry in America, America consumed a total of 8 billion mt of raw steel during its period of urbanization, while the consumption of raw steel in China so far just exceeds 4 billion mt.
Mentioning the annual iron ore contract price talks, Mr. Luo said that there are great difficulties in refusing the sellers' demand for a 20-30 percent increase, given that in the global markets iron ore prices are on an upward trend. China is now pushing for many iron ore-related measures such as a unified price policy across the country, an import agent policy, a reduction in the number of iron ore importing companies and an improvement in the standard of iron ore companies. "If we can unify the action of our iron ore companies, we can further boost China's position in the international iron ore talks."