China 2010 iron ore imports drop for first time this century

Beijing: China's 2010 iron ore imports dropped 1.4% year on year. The December import volume was 58.08m tons, down 6.6% year on year but sequentially increased 1.2% to a nine-month high, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs. It is the first time China iron ore imports declined for 12 years.
Due to the increasing of import price, total cost for importing iron ore in 2010 is some US$78.9bn, $28.7bn more than 2009. [11/01/11]