On January 10, Yi Zhen, an official at China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that China will accelerate the construction of domestic ports in its 12th five-year plan period (2011-2015) as domestic ports currently still lack sufficient capacity for handling throughput, especially in the case of iron ore.
Mr. Yi added that the average ratio of throughput to handling capacity at Chinese ports was 1 : 0.988 in 2008, while this ratio is expected to reach 1 : 1.1 in 2015 in line with China's planned development of domestic coastal harbors.
NDRC: By 2015 China's annual output of pig iron to reach 600 million mt
Mr. Yi also stated that by 2015 China's annual output of pig iron will reach 600 million mt, while domestic demand for iron ore will total 940 million mt per annum. However, 560 million mt of this demand for iron ore is expected to be met by imports, mainly from Australia, Brazil, India, South Africa and some other destinations.