Chinese iron ore importers coldly took a new import policy

Many Chinese steel plants and wholesalers did not apply online for the design of a regular Iron ore import license from July 01, the date of entry into force of new rules, due to the lack of knowledge on this issue.

The Ministry of Commerce in China issued notifications and an Internet application until June 08 to automatically design a license for iron ore and clay imports, this means that iron ore importers will only need licenses that do not need to approve and support the government or industrial authorities, such as the Chinese Bronic Metallurgy Association. However, iron ore traders said that "we do not know how licenses for imports received on the Internet will be valid, so we occupied a waiting approach."

Mr. Lee Xinchuang, Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Black Metallurgy Association, said that a new policy means not only simplifying the procedure (from manual processing to the Internet), but also termination of the qualification of importers. "This is first of all, because the country has a weak market of iron ore and steel, and this is an important basis for changes. It is not yet clear whether the liberalization of the rules in China chaos in the import market or not."

Enterprises, steel plants and traders that had import licenses before are currently much more careful when buying offshore supplies. Most Chinese steel plants acquire iron ore strictly for 10-15 days of use. They buy several times and a very small amount in response to price fluctuations. The current situation forced part of the intermediaries to leave the market.