China Knowledge cited Mr Sam Walsh executive director of Rio Tinto Plc as saying that China is expected to double its output of steel by the end of 2020.
Mr Walsh said the forecast was made partly based on the company increasing sales of iron ore to China. Rio Tinto, the world third biggest mining company sold 70% of its iron ore output to China last year, as compared with 50% in the previous year and only 16% in 2000.
China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology forecast that China’s crude steel output this year would surge 10%YoY as compared with the previous year.
In the first two months this year, China produced 103 million tonnes of crude steel, 25.4% more than in the same period of last year. According to MIIT, China eliminated about 100 million tonnes of iron-making capacity in 2009 and 11.29 million tonnes of steel making are expected to be eliminated by the end of 2011.