Some people lament that iron ore will change? Gold mine? Is it? Wang Yingsheng, Deputy Secretary-General of China Iron and Steel Industry Association, said at the high-end forum of the 2020 (9th) China iron and steel raw material market held on the 7th that the price of gold has fluctuated this year, but the price of iron ore has basically maintained an upward trend.
According to estimates, the price of imported iron ore in China has increased by nearly 40% from about $82 per ton in February, while the cost of imported iron ore is only $40 per ton.
Driven by the increase in sales volume and price, the global iron ore giant Vale's profit in the third quarter rose sharply to $6.224 billion, the highest since the fourth quarter of 20 13.
What makes iron ore become? Crazy stone? ? Experts believe that strong demand from China is the most important reason.
China's economy, which took the lead in recovering from the epidemic, has greatly increased its demand for steel products, thus pushing up the demand for iron ore, a raw material for steel.
Li Xinchuang, chief engineer of Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute, pointed out at the same forum that from/kloc-0 to September, the output of pig iron, crude steel and steel in China increased by 3.8%, 4.5% and 5.6% respectively year-on-year, and it is estimated that the output of crude steel will exceed 1 100 million tons in 2020, accounting for about 60% of the global crude steel output.
Taking pig iron as an example, Wang Yingsheng also said that the output of pig iron in China has reached a new high continuously this year. In the past, China's pig iron production accounted for nearly 60% of the world's total, and now it is close to 70%.
Although the steel output keeps increasing, it still can't meet the demand. The data shows that China has become a net importer of steel again after 1 1 year. From June to September this year, China saw a monthly net import of crude steel for four consecutive months.
Wang Yingsheng pointed out that the demand from China has actually made an important contribution to the global steel industry and has become an important support for many steel mills not to stop production or close down. Since the beginning of this year, a large number of iron and steel products such as pig iron and hot-pressed iron blocks produced by various countries have been imported to China.
On the one hand, domestic steel demand is strong; On the other hand, raw materials such as iron ore are highly dependent on foreign countries and rely heavily on imports. Li Xinchuang pointed out that domestic iron ore, nickel ore and other resource endowments are poor, production capacity and output are limited, and foreign dependence is high. Among them, the external dependence of iron ore exceeds 80%, and the import sources are highly concentrated. China's iron ore mainly comes from Australia and Brazil, and imports from these two countries account for more than 80%.
At the same time, Wang Yingsheng explained that the long-term negotiation price mechanism of iron ore makes downstream steel enterprises lack bargaining power. Every year, 80% to 90% of iron ore in mines is sold by signing long-term agreements with large iron and steel enterprises, and this part of iron ore is not quantitatively priced. The price of the long association is mainly determined by the remaining spot sales price of about 10%, and the accumulated amount of the month is used as the settlement basis of the long association. Therefore, the supply of iron ore, what varieties to sell and what price to sell are mainly determined by the miners.
In addition, almost all steel products can be traded in the futures market, so speculation in the financial market will also contribute to the price of iron ore.
The high price of iron ore has greatly squeezed the profit margin of the steel industry. According to the statistics of China Steel Association, the total profit of key steel enterprises decreased by 9.46% from June to September. The average sales profit rate was 4.05%, down 0.66 percentage points year-on-year, and the overall profit level of the steel industry dropped significantly compared with the same period last year.
Experts believe that in the next five years, China's steel consumption will remain high, and the demand for raw materials will be high.
Li Xinchuang suggested making full and efficient use of domestic and foreign resources and striving to form a high-level guarantee pattern of domestic and international dual-cycle raw materials. Improve the price mechanism and raw material financial system to reduce the impact of cost fluctuations in the steel industry. Increase scientific and technological innovation, reduce the demand for traditional raw materials, and increase the diversified supply of alternative resources. At the same time, consider establishing a strategic resource reserve system.