During a meeting lately held in Beijing by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), vice president of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning & Research Institute Li Xinchuang said that there was no other way to rectify the disorder in the iron ore market and to deal with the iron ore monopoly of the three overseas mining giants except by cutting the number of qualified iron ore importers to between 5 and 10.
Regarding iron ore demand from medium and small-sized mills, Mr. Li added that officially qualified importers should strictly follow the distributing agent system so as to ensure that small mills can buy iron ore at reasonable price levels.
Speaking at the same meeting, China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) vice chairman Luo Bingsheng stated that it was vital not to delay in restoring order to iron ore imports, adding that imports of spot ore should be cancelled completely.