On November 17, Zhou Zhongshu, president of China Minmetals Corporation said at the China Mining Congress and Expo 2010 that iron ore market is expected to stop being a seller's market, and become a buyer's market.
Starting from the second half of 2001, driven by demand, the international iron ore market has become a seller's market, with price increases recorded every year. In this period, a large amount of capital has entered into the iron ore field development market. According to Zhou Zhongshu, Chinese enterprises have also invested in overseas iron ore projects, and as a result, China now has the rights of 190 million mt overseas iron ore output capacity, which accounts for 30 percent of China's total iron ore import volume.