The climax of the Chinese steel industry's “high triumph” has passed, and the demand for imported iron ore is gradually cooling down. According to the latest report from the agency, China will usher in a record of falling imports of ore for many years.

China's leading steel mills are watching the "change of iron ore market", studying the possible period of the "inflection point" of ore supply and demand, gradually accepting the reality that the traditional mining price mechanism no longer exists, and seeking to establish a more reasonable new link with steel prices. price setting policy.

Luo Tiejun, deputy director of the Raw Materials Division of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, clearly stated at the recent China Steel Market Outlook and “My Steel Network” annual meeting that the steel industry is a “control industry” in China, with production and demand. It must grow, but the magnitude will not be large. According to statistics, in the first 10 months of this year, China's crude steel output increased significantly less than Europe and Japan and South Korea.

In the past “hot weather” in the Chinese steel market, the reporter felt the “not on the top” tone of the “platform period”. In the very light trading situation, some merchants still have a "bullish mentality", but they get the result of "helping to rise and helpless." The analyst of the information organization "My Steel Network" summed up the words of "the downward pressure and the upward support in the top cow". The whole steel price is at the "high pressure point" and it is unlikely to appear. The market trend of “unilateral upside” that has been common in the past years.

The demand for imported iron ore in the Chinese steel industry, which is gradually “cooling down”, is cooling. The latest research report of “My Steel Network” shows that in the first 10 months of this year, China’s iron ore imports were 503 million tons, down 8% from last year; the annual import volume is expected to be around 600 million tons. Or lower than last year's level. "This will be the first decline in China's ore imports since 2007."

Xu Lejiang, chairman of Baosteel Group, China's most representative steel mill, has repeatedly told reporters that the "hot rise" of global iron ore for many years is a phased imbalance between supply and demand and the over-concentration of ore resources in the world's three major mines. Caused. With the slowdown of China's steel industry, the turning point of the ore market is bound to come. Wu Dongying, president of Baosteel Economic Management Research Institute, also believes that the change of iron ore market should be observed. With the gradual approach of the “inflection point” of ore supply and demand, the global mining market will be oversupply in the future.

China's steel industry is becoming more and more calm and has a way to deal with the "high mineral prices." According to mining analyst Gao Bo, Chinese steel mills have mainly solved the risk of high mineral prices through three channels: one is to more effectively strengthen the proportion of domestic mines to reduce dependence on imported mines; the second is to let the ore Import sources are more diversified. Iron ore from South Africa, Ukraine, Indonesia and Chile has been used in China. Third, foreign investment is made in a commercially viable way to increase the proportion of equity mines. Since the beginning of this year, the imported mineral price has broken the inertia of “unilateral upside”. There are some ups and downs, and the middle of the year enters the “bottom bottom”, and the lowest price is only 124 US dollars.

In the situation that supply and demand in the global mining market tends to be loose, Chinese steel mills are more rational in the face of the iron ore pricing mechanism that has been quite sensitive for many years. Xu Lejiang, chairman of Baosteel, said in an interview recently that the traditional long-term agreement pricing mechanism has been broken and replaced with a more short-term pricing method. "In the current situation, this is acceptable." But the supply and demand sides also need to further improve the new mechanism. The relevant person in charge of the China Iron and Steel Association has also said that it is necessary to further study the mineral price mechanism linked to steel prices.

This new idea of China's steel industry has also been echoed by officials of the Chinese authorities. Luo Tiejun, deputy director of the raw materials department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, recently said in Shanghai that the adjustment of the mineral price mechanism includes certain rationality, canceling the “dual track system” of long-term price and spot price in the ore market, reducing the market risk of both parties and curbing market speculation. Space. However, the current import mine market has a strong monopoly, and the index based on it is easy to operate, which has affected the healthy development of the Chinese steel industry.

The official said that the Chinese steel industry "should have its own attitude" on the issue of the mineral price mechanism. On the one hand, we must further increase efforts to regulate the order of ore circulation; on the other hand, we must study the new pricing mechanism for imported mines that are linked to steel prices. Only by forming a reasonable price relationship between the mine price and the steel price can we balance the interests of the upstream and downstream and form a stable and effective industrial chain structure.