Luo Tiejun, the vice president of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), has stated that China’s domestic iron ore production capacity has increased by around 50 million mt following the launch of the Keystone Program and more than a dozen of major iron ore projects in the country have started construction.
In January 2022, the CISA submitted the Keystone Program to China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, aiming to fundamentally solve the problem of resource shortage in the steel industry chain. It set a short-term target up to 2025 for the volumes of domestic mines, scrap consumption and overseas equity mines to reach 370 million mt, 300 million mt and 220 million mt, with increases of 100 million mt, 70 million mt and 100 million mt compared to 2020, respectively.
Moreover, the CISA said it has reported to the relevant ministries and departments on issues relating to steel scrap, while the coordination mechanism for steel scrap has been under study and formulated.