Dalian: China's steel output, already the world's largest, is expected to rise to nearly 1bn tons per year by as early as 2015, said an Australian government official.
China, which this year is expected to produce around 480m tons of steel, is seen doubling that figure to nearly 1bn tons within eight years, said Stuart Smith, deputy secretary general of Western Australia's Department of Industry and Resources.
Speaking at an industry conference here, he said his state, Australia's largest producer of the major raw materials used in steelmaking, is hoping to tap around half of China's iron ore import market by that time.
Smith said China is expected to import a total of over 800m tons of iron ore in 2015, mainly from Australia, Brazil and India, with imports comprising well over half of China's total iron ore demand then.
Seperately, Shoudu Iron and Steel Group (Shougang), a leading Chinese state-owned steel mill, plans to boost its annual iron ore output in Peru from a current 7m tons to 20 m tons in the next four years, a company official said at the 7th China International Steel & Raw Materials Conference 2007, held in Dalian. [1/11/07]
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