New Beijing state-owned China Mineral Resources Group (CMRG) will start iron ore purchases worth $160 billion for about 20 major Chinese steelmakers next year, becoming the world’s largest iron ore buyer, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The agency was established this year to buy raw materials for the domestic steel industry, with the purpose of decreasing the iron ore prices, accelerating Beijing’s efforts to increase control over natural resource.
CMRG has started negotiations for iron ore supply with major miners Australia-based Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Brazil-based Vale, SteelOrbis understands.
It is said that Chinese steelmaker Baosteel, a subsidiary of China Baowu Steel Group Co., will buy more than half of its iron ore imports through CMRG, while the other Chinese steelmakers did not specify allocation volumes.