On November 5, Shaanxi Province-based Chinese steelmaker Shaanxi Iron and Steel Group (Shaanxi Steel) signed an iron ore import agreement with Brazilian miner Vale at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai on November 5-10.
Yang Haifeng, president of Shaanxi Steel, stated that the company needed to purchase more than 10 million mt of import iron ore annually, mostly from Australia and Brazil. The contract reflects the global strategy of China's steel industry, he said. He also stated that Brazilian iron ore is of high quality and is of low cost via smelting by domestic steel enterprises, and can provide better quality steel for national economic construction.
Also at the CIIE event, on November 6 Liaoning Province-based Benxi Iron and Steel Group signed an agreement for raw material imports with Australian miner BHP Billiton, with the contract value totaling RMB 140 million ($20 million).
On November 6, Henan Province-based Anyang Iron and Steel Group inked an agreement with Vale to purchase 1.2 million mt of iron ore.
In addition, another iron ore giant Rio Tinto will sign MoUs with six Chinese enterprises at the CIIE event, including Baowu Group, Liaoning Province-based Angang Group, Jiangsu-based Shagang Group, Inner Mongolia-based Baotou Iron and Steel Group, Fujian-based Sangang Group and Shandong-based Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco) Shandong.