Xinchuang Li, executive vice secretary-general of the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) stated on February 4 at the China Iron Ore 2015 conference held in Beijing that China’s iron ore imports will likely increase by 7.1 percent year on year to 1 billion mt in 2015, with Australia and Brazil accounting for over 80 percent of supplies. In 2014, China imported 932.51 million mt of iron ore, up 13.8 percent year on year.
Mr. Li also predicted that China’s crude steel output will decrease by 1.07 percent year on year to 814 million mt in 2015. In addition, the CISA official said that Chinese domestic production iron ore supply in 2015 will decrease by 70 million mt compared to 2014, while average global iron ore prices will likely decrease below $60/mt some time in 2015, though this situation will not last long.