The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has stated that China’s domestic iron ore concentrate output will increase by 5-10 million this year mt compared to 2023 with the iron ore projects making progress in the country, according to a media report by Reuters. China aims to produce 370 million mt iron ore concentrate by 2025 to reduce its import dependency.
In the first quarter this year, the country produced 72.07 million mt of iron ore concentrate and 284.09 million mt of iron ore, up by four percent and 15.3 percent year on year, respectively. Meanwhile, in the January-April period this year, China imported 411.82 million mt of iron ore, up 7.2 percent year on year, as announced by the Chinese customs authorities.
The CISA noted that there is no reason for iron ore prices to remain elevated in the future as global iron ore supply will be sufficient with new projects in the global market such as Australian miner Rio Tinto’s Simandou project in Guinea, which is scheduled to commence production by the end of next year.