STEEL/IRON ORE

摘要

Two central themes emerged from the China Iron & Steel & Association's (CISA) conference held in Qingdao in late September. Firstly, representatives from both CISA and Chinese steel mills emphasised the onset of "winter" in the steel markets, as flat demand growth has coincided with excessive supply. This, according to several speakers, would mean that peak steel demand had already been reached in China. In order to deal with the resulting heavy financial pressures, CISA and other steel mills also advocated long-term mutually beneficial strategic partnerships ("win-win") with their counterparts in the mining sector. The Free Trade Agreement with Australia was cited as one such example.