The contradiction between "strong supply and weak demand" in the steel industry has become evident in the first quarter of 2024, said Luo Tiejun, Vice Chairman of the China Iron and Steel Association.

With changes in consumption structure and volume, there has been a fundamental shift in the trend of continuous growth in steel consumption demand. The main contradiction in the industry has shifted to how to meet the slowly declining demand for steel with sufficient capacity.

Strategic security work for iron ore resources has received attention and made progress, Mr. Luo added. High-quality development of the steel industry requires "quantity and quality improvement" of China domestic iron ore resources to support it, and coordinated efforts are needed to unleash the actual capacity of domestic iron ore resources.

Currently, the contribution of domestic iron ore to crude steel production is 15%, with steel scrap contributing 20%, resulting in a domestic iron resource contribution rate of about 35%. The contribution rate of overseas ores still exceeds 60%, indicating a significant gap from the target proposed by industry research to optimize the structure of ferrous resources.