China's huge demand for metals and minerals has changed the world's economy. Without any doubt the key mineral is iron-ore for steel production. Increasing steel production results in increasing demand for coking coal and steel alloying metals. The international iron ore market is controlled by few producers only. However, the short iron ore market affected the iron ore price dramatically. This is true for coking coal and steel alloying metals as well. One of the main drivers for the high demand is the vehicles industry. The growing vehicles market in the Far East countries led to a short market in zinc for galvanized plates and lead for starter batteries.
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