China remains the focus at world's biggest mining conference that is being held in Cape Town.Experts have projected China to remain as the largest importer of iron ore import not because it does not want to exhaust its resource but because the domestic raw ore is of poor quality.

At present, the Asian dragon has over 50% share of the world's total iron import and India is the third biggest exporter of iron ore to its neighbor. Industry insiders projected China will continue to look outwards for the next few decades to meet its increasing demand of steel.

Magnus Ericsson, co-founder and partner of Raw Materials Group while speaking at the Mining Indaba said that official records show China imported 680 million tonnes of iron ore in 2011 while the total global import of iron ore was 1,125 million tonnes. While Australia and Brazil are two big suppliers of iron ore, India exports about 100 million tonnes to China.

"China has poor quality iron ore and hence is compelled to get good quality mineral from other sources. Though as of now they are yet to make a huge mark in Africa, there is every indication of the Asian power playing a big role in the next 10-15 years. It will look for new areas in countries other than South Africa. None can stop it. So the best option is to ensure that they enter the business and follow rules," Ericsson said.

Though China mines out 1,043 million tonnes of raw iron ore, because of the inferior quality it ends up producing only around 350 million tonne.

The group has projected that India's iron ore exports come down as there is a debate going on in India over how much to export or use internally. Ericsson said that they are hopeful of the steel lobby would have an upper hand and the export would get a push. Already Indian ports, which were primarily dependent on iron, ores have been bleeding.

Rough estimates suggest that the total world demand of iron ore would be doubled in the next 18-20 years - from 1,980 million tonnes to 3,500 million tonnes.

Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com