At the opening ceremony of the Fourth Session of China's 11th National People's Congress on March 5, Miao Wei, minister at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), stated that, in order to tackle the pressure of rising costs for domestic steel production, China will diversify its sources of iron ore supply and will also increase domestic scrap collection.
Minister Miao said that the three iron ore giants, namely, Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, have monopolized the iron ore market, and that difficulties in iron ore price negotiations exert a negative influence on finished steel prices in China.
Faced with such a situation, the minister said that China will take several measures, including diversification of iron ore supplies and increased domestic scrap collection, to restrict the rise in steelmaking costs and thereby prevent increased finished steel costs from being transferred to downstream users.