China's General Administration of Customs has indicated that speculators have been entering the iron ore trading, causing iron ore prices in China to fluctuate even more than normal.
While officially there are only 112 qualified Chinese domestic iron ore importers, data from Chinese customs reveal that the actual number of Chinese iron ore importers reached 204 in the first half of the current year. Due to the price differences between import iron ore prices and domestic sales prices, qualified importers hold a monopoly of profits and have been able to lease import capacity to 92 non-qualified importers, thereby letting speculative capital into the iron ore trade. At the same time, Chinese central government policy to regulate iron ore importers has not been strictly applied.