Xinchuang Li, deputy secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), has stated at China Mining 2014 held in Tianjin that China's demand for imported iron ore will indicate slower growth, but will remain strong.
The CISA official pointed out that China imported 820 million mt of iron ore in 2013, while it imported around 700 million mt of iron ore in the first nine months of the current year, and so China's import volume of iron ore in the current year is expected to exceed 900 million mt.
He went on to state, "$70/mt is an important threshold as the lower price would affect miners' profitability due to the huge investments made in iron ore production... however, iron ore prices will not be as high as in previous years. It is expected that iron ore prices will fluctuate at around $80/mt in 2015."
On October 23, HSBC Holding PLC also lowered their expectation for iron ore prices in 2015 from $105/mt to $85/mt, and decreased its expectation for the long-term price from $92/mt to $80/mt.