Beijing News on November 25, the website of the China Iron and Steel Association showed that recently, the China Iron and Steel Association was invited to attend the 2024 World Shipping Conference, and Luo Tiejun, vice president of the Steel Association, said at the meeting that dry bulk cargo accounts for more than 40% of the world's maritime trade, iron ore and coal are the most important varieties, both of which together account for more than half of the global dry bulk cargo sea traffic. China's steel industry is the most important support for the world's dry bulk shipping market. China's iron ore imports have exceeded 1.1 billion tons for five consecutive years, accounting for about 70% of the world's total imports. Coking coal imports exceeded 100 million tons for the first time in 2023, accounting for about 30% of world imports. Every year, it also imports about 50 million tons of manganese ore, chromium ore and other steel-related metal minerals, and exports about 100 million tons of steel products. This year, China's steel industry has continued to maintain strong demand for dry bulk cargo shipping, importing 1.02 billion tons of iron ore in the first 10 months, an increase of 4.9%. Coal imports were 435 million tons, up 13.5 percent year on year, with a combined increase of nearly 100 million tons.
Looking ahead, Luo Tiejun pointed out that China's position as the world's largest steel producer and demand country will exist for a long time, and its demand for iron ore and coking coal will remain high, which will continue to support the world's dry bulk cargo seaborne market. It is expected that with the production of a number of new iron ore projects, the pattern of iron ore output will undergo new changes, iron ore supply will become more diversified, and new requirements are put forward for the construction of channels. Luo Tiejun finally stressed that in the case of increasing concentration of iron ore supply, the proportion of FOB trade is low, and iron ore shipping has formed the current mine-dominated pattern. As iron ore projects such as Guinea come on stream, continuing to match capacity to meet new changes in supply and demand is critical for the shipping industry. China's steel industry will not only provide traffic for the shipping industry, but also provide strong high-quality ship plate guarantee for the shipbuilding industry.