The iron ore demand in north China stood at 327 million tonnes in January-October, down 2 percent year on year, while the demand in the northwest and southwest regions of the country declined about 20 percent from the year-earlier period, according to China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute.
The raw iron ore output of China declined 8.8 percent on year to 1.135 billion tonnes in the first 10 months, while the iron ore imports stayed flat as compared with the same period of 2014 at 775 million tonnes, the Institute said.
The Institute expected China's crude steel output to reach 806 million tonnes in 2015, down 2 percent from 2014, which would be the first negative growth since 1981. The steel consumption of China in 2015 is expected to be 668 million tonnes this year, marking the first year-on-year decline since 1995. Chinese steel-consuming industries, such as machinery, construction and automobile, are developing at a lower-than-expected speed, amid slowing investment in fixed assets, the Institute explained.
China's demand for pig iron and iron ores will keep shrinking in the coming years due to more use of scrap steel and resources recycling, said Li Xinchuang, head of the Institute.
A report by the Institute expected China's iron ore demand would be 1.109 billion tonnes in 2015, 1.073 billion tonnes in 2016, 920 million tonnes in 2020, and 710 million tonnes in 2030.
Currently, quite a few small and midsize iron ore miners in China have suspended or shut down operations on high production costs, while those still in operation are going through tight cash flows and huge losses.
A latest report by Morgan Stanley said the supply capacities of four global leading miners, namely Vale, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and FMG, account for about 75 percent of the world total, after many small miners exited market and the giant four expanded capacities during the big recession of iron ore price. The international iron ore price has slumped to below 40 US dollars/tonne from the 133.8 US dollars/tonne at the beginning of 2014.
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