China admits tentative measures on iron ore imports

SteelOrbis Shanghai When relevant authorities from Australia put forward valid evident, the Chinese government felt obliged to admit that tentative measures were taken on the iron ore import. The government said that the measures have now been abolished as they reached their goal. Foreign Trade Department under the Ministry of Commerce stated that the increase in iron ore imports led to the accumulation of inventory at ports and those in companies, which required the Foreign Trade Department to adopt some tentative measures to restrict iron ore imports in order to promote fair competition. An official from the Department listed the measures as follows: 1. Under the regulations, the automatic import license should be granted within ten days after accepting the applications from the companies. 2. The supervision and analysis on iron ore quantity, price and place of origin should be further strengthened in order to prevent any disorder in the market, and to maintain a fair and organized market. 3. The companies which are polluting the environment, wasting resources and those that have small blast furnaces should not import iron ore. The department also admitted that they were trying to impose a price cap on iron ore imports, which was set as $54/mt CFR for the Australian ore and $70/mt CFR for the Brazilian ore. The Ministry of Commerce has canceled the tentative measures under the pressures from Australian miners.