As an important engineering construction material, China will spend hundreds of billions of dollars to import iron ore every year, but it is clear that the total amount of iron ore in China's neighboring countries has been exceeded70 billion tonsWhy bother to import iron ore from Australia and Brazil?
China imports nearly from Australia every year500 million tonsIron ore, imported from Brazil near300 million tonsIron ore accounts for 80% of China's total annual iron ore imports, for example, in 2023, China's total iron ore imports will reach11.7.9 billion tons, the average import price is:113.$6 ton, the total cost of more than 100 billion, here not only includes the first iron ore, of course, there are freight and other expenses, but in several countries around China, there are also rich iron ore resources.
First of all, it is the world's fifth-largest iron producerRussia, which has iron ore reserves29 billion tonsIt is the country with the largest iron ore reserves in the world, accounting for about one-third of the world's total reserves; And then there'sKazakhstan, the estimated reserves of iron ore are:16.6 billion tons, ranked fifth in the world, and the iron content has reached
And then there isMongolia, proven reserves of iron ore2 billion tons, the average grade is inMore than 50%., compared to the average grade of our countryof iron ore, much higher, in additionNorth Koreaof10 billion tonsIron ore,Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and AfghanistanThe total reserves can be reached14 billion tons
In this way, the total amount of iron ore in these neighboring countries has reached a staggering level71.6 billion tons。Obviously, the mine is around our country, and importing it nearby can save a lot of freight, why does my country have to go far and go around half the world to import iron ore from Australia and Brazil?
The first is the Russian oneIron ore is difficult to mineIron ore from Russia is mainly distributed in Siberia and the Far East, and due to the influence of latitude and altitude, half of the year cannot be mined during the freezing period. Data shows that in 2021, Russia's iron ore mining volume is not enough100 million tons
Plus Russia itself is a big iron producer,Iron ore is in high demand, only per yearThe iron ore used for export, approximately remained in20 million to 25 million tonsLeft, it is mainly exported to Germany, Italy and France in exchange for top-level special steel, but in 2022, my country will also import from Russia8.74 million tonsiron ore also accounts for a large proportion of Russia's iron ore exports.
And then there'sTechnical difficultiesMongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan, these countries are because of technical problems, a large number of domestic mineral resources can not be exploited and exported, if our country wants to import, not only to provide technical support, but also to build roads and factories for it, etc., the cost can be much more than importing from Australia and Brazil.
Not to mention, North Korea is a closed country and has not made effective use of iron ore, and the overall ore grade is low, and the mining cost will be much higher than the value of the ore itself.
And finallyShipping issuesYou know, almost all of China's top ten steel mills are located in eastern coastal cities, and under normal circumstances, sea transportation is cheaper than rail transportation, and the same goods are not considered on the premise of loading and unloading costsThe cost of sea freight is only one-third of that of rail, and the sea route is also shorter and more volatile than rail transport. In this way, it is not difficult to understand why China wants to import iron ore from near and far.
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