'Back to the future'- resilience in historical context and implications for the future

摘要

This paper places the current iron ore market conditions in context by examining the development of the global steel and iron ore industries over the past 40 years, and discusses the key market challenges faced by the Australian iron ore industry going forward. The evolution of iron ore demand, price and quality is traced from the inception of the Pilbara iron ore industry in the 1960s; through the 70s and 80s as Australia faced increasing competition from Brazil; to the meteoric rise in Chinese steel production in the 2000s that drove the Australian mining boom and saw iron ore fines prices increase from historical levels below US$20/DMT (dry metric tonnes) FOB (free on board) to over US$160/DMT FOB.