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China's iron ore imports slow down

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-25 09:04

China is still importing shiploads of iron ore but imports are slowing down.

While imports for the first nine months of the year were up a hefty 24.2 percent on the same period last year, this is the first time since 2003 that the import growth rate has dipped under the 30 percent bar, a senior commerce official told Xinhua on Tuesday.

China imported 247 million tons of iron ore in the first three quarters, said director Lu Jianhua of the Ministry of Commerce's Foreign Trade Department.

Lu predicted that total iron ore imports for the year would be around 320 million tons. Import growth for the year is expected to be 12 percentage points lower than last year.

Lu attributed the slowdown to China's rising domestic supply.

He said that the growing domestic supply has helped drive down the average cost of imports by 7.2 percent to 62.70 US dollars.