Yang Jiasheng, chairman of the Metallurgical Mines' Association of China (MMAC), stated at SteelHome's 10th Steel Development Strategy Conference held in Shanghai at the weekend that China's demand for iron ore has entered a period of low-speed growth following its high-speed growth in previous years, while he indicated that the country's demand for the raw material may increase at a year-on-year rate of 3-4 percent over the long term. Mr. Yang went on to say that China's demand for iron ore will increase by 32 million mt in 2014, while domestic iron ore output will rise by 31.2 million mt during the given year, limiting any increase in demand for imported iron ore.
The MMAC official also said he expected that CIF prices of imported iron ore for China will fluctuate in a narrow range at around $120/mt and prices of domestic production iron ore may indicate decreases in 2014, though some other analysts say $110/mt CIF is possible for prices of imported iron ore this year.