Chinese steel companies are striving to be the "Australian miners" signing more mining agreements
Not long ago, before and after the APEC meeting, many leading steel companies such as Anshan Iron and Steel, Baosteel, Shagang, and China Steel negotiated with Australian ore giants, and some signed iron ore mining agreements to complete a new round of mining in Australia. -
Perhaps it is the first time in years that the Chinese iron and steel enterprises have so concentrated and signed a mining agreement in Australia on such a large scale.
In late August, Jiangsu Shagang Group signed a preliminary agreement with Stemcor Holdings to purchase 90% of its stake in the Savage River iron mine in Australia.
On August 28th, Baosteel signed a joint venture agreement with Australia's third-largest mining company, FMG, to explore and develop a magnetite with a target of 1 billion tons in Western Australia.
On September 4, Sinosteel Group and Australia's Rio Tinto signed the extension framework agreement of the Chana Joint Venture to obtain the right to continue mining of the Chana Mine.
On September 6th, Anshan Iron and Steel Group and Australia's Jindabi Company signed an agreement to form a joint venture of Carrara Mining Co., Ltd. They will jointly develop Carrara Iron Mine.
In just over 10 days, Chinese steel companies, like cyclones, quickly completed a new round of mining arrangements in Australia. When the iron ore negotiations are about to start this year, what do these overseas big moves mean?
"Chinese Corps" made a series of attacks
It is not the first time that a Chinese company has started mining in Australia, but this time it has changed in comparison with the past:
One is to focus on attack. Although the four projects are independent of each other, the signing time is concentrated and larger. Looking at the history of Chinese steel enterprises in Australia, in the past 20 years, the projects were relatively fragmented. In 1987, China Metallurgical Import & Export Co., Ltd. and Australian Rio Tinto Group jointly developed the Chana Iron Mine; in 1994, Anshan Iron & Steel participated in the development of Curiana Continent in Western Australia. Iron ore; 2002 Baosteel and Rio Tinto joint venture to establish Baoruiji Mining Co., Ltd., to develop the Palabodu iron ore; in 2004, Wuhan Iron & Steel and Tangshan Iron and Steel, Maanshan Iron and Steel and BHP Billiton jointly established Wheelara joint venture , Joint venture in Jimblebar Iron Mine, Australia. Compared with previous trials by Chinese steel companies, this time a large-scale project signing contract shows the gradual maturity of Chinese steel companies.
The second is the diversification of the composition and the diversification of investment methods. Among several major steel companies, Shagang is the largest privately-owned steel company in China. In 2006, it ranks the fourth in the domestic steel industry with 14.63 million tons of steel output. This investment in Australia is also the first among private steel companies in China. Overseas investment mining companies. Baosteel, Anshan Iron and Steel and other joint ventures with foreign companies operating mines, Shagang may use a more radical approach to take acquisitions to obtain absolute control of the mine.
It is worth noting that Baosteel and Angang, the two most powerful steel giants in China, have not only had a mining site in Australia after the signing of this contract in Australia, but formed multiple mining sites jointly with different mining companies. It will also help balance the relationship with local mining companies and prevent them from hanging on a tree.
According to the data, Australia has 40 billion tons of iron ore reserves and is one of the most mature mining areas in the world. Although the signing of several major steel companies in Australia is relatively low-key, Chinese steel companies have become the most important in the Australian mining industry. Overseas forces gradually overtake Japan's Nippon Steel and South Korea’s Pohang.
How large is the import mine gap?
Since the beginning of September has entered the warm-up period of iron ore negotiations, the actions of several companies overseas mining, people can not help but ask, Chinese steel prices in the end there is still much iron ore resources? Does accelerating the pace of overseas mining mean that we can grasp the initiative in iron ore negotiations?
According to the 2007 Iron Ore International Market Seminar recently held in Shanghai, the total amount of imported iron ore in China was 188 million tons in the first half of this year, an increase of 16.46% compared to the same period of last year, and the absolute amount of growth was still small. However, the growth rate has slowed down compared with the previous two years. The growth rate in 2005 was 32.29%, and the growth rate in 2006 was 18.55%.
It should be said that in order to adapt to the development of China's steel industry, China's domestic iron ore production has also greatly improved, from 108 million tons of iron ore in 2002 to 270 million tons last year, accounting for global iron ore share. 18.62% of production. However, this growth still cannot adapt to the development needs of the Chinese steel industry.
Zou Jian, chairman of the China Metallurgical and Mining Enterprises Association, frankly stated that from 1996 to 2006, China's crude steel production accounted for the world's share, from the past about 10% to nearly 35%, compared to China's iron ore mines. More or less rich ore, the average grade of iron ore is only 30%, more than 55% of the rich ore only accounts for 2.5%, beneficiation processing is difficult, and more small and medium-sized mines. These naturally unfavorable conditions do allow Chinese companies to rely heavily on imported ore. In the first half of this year, China’s imports of iron ore accounted for about 50% of total ore demand.
The data also shows that before the signing of a new batch of Australian mining projects, China's overseas joint venture built an annual capacity of 38 million tons of iron ore, which is a big gap compared to the annual import level of 260 million tons. Therefore, overseas The road to mining is still long. Experts believe that in the long run, the new round of Australian mining heat will definitely help China to seize more initiative. However, the impact on iron ore negotiations this year is not significant, and the game between the two sides will remain fierce.
Overseas mining needs to guard against risks
While Australia was fighting for the owner of the mine, Chinese steel companies began trials to mine in India and Africa in the same period. Experts said that overseas mining is a good thing, but more and more overseas mining projects, Chinese steel companies how to avoid the risks, need to pay attention. Otherwise, if mining is not completed, it may be lost.
Experts believe that overseas mining should take comprehensive consideration of such factors as mineral resource risk, political environmental risk, and economic operation risk.
Taking the political environmental risk as an example, in 2001 China National Geological Mining Corporation and the Ivorian Mining Company jointly invested in the development of the country’s manganese ore resources. Unexpectedly, the political situation in Côte d'Ivoire was unstable and the war kept on. The project had to be suspended. Fortunately, this project was not yet completed by China. A lot of investment, the loss is not much. At present, West Africa is rich in iron ore resources. This is the third high-speed iron ore base in the world after Australia and Brazil. The grade of ore is more than 60%, but it must be considered when entering African mines. There may be political environment risks. Similarly, in the relatively mature mining market in Australia and Brazil, operational risks such as local economic regulations and exchange rate changes should also be carefully considered. In mining abroad, the products sold are sold in the US dollar and sold to the international market and the Chinese market, while the cost expenditure is priced in the currency of the host country. When the exchange rate of the host country’s currency and the US dollar changes, the currency of the host country appreciates, and the ore cost will increase. As a result, the economic benefits of the enterprise will be impaired.
From an international point of view, because most of the rich iron ore resources are concentrated in countries such as Australia, Brazil, and India, the dependence of the iron and steel industry on imported mines in many countries is high. Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom are all 100% Using imported ore for steel production, South Korea has reached more than 90%. It is worth noting that steel companies in countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Germany have adopted a variety of methods for controlling imported ore at the same time to spread risks. That is to say, they either buy the spot on the international market, or enter into long-term supply contracts with iron ore producers, or run joint ventures or wholly-owned operations in iron ore production domestically, so that they have a certain amount of market discourse to resist price risks. . Therefore, in addition to focusing on negotiating on the price of imported iron ore, Chinese steel enterprises must also seize the time to invest in foreign mining and form a relatively complete, diversified and mature resource system for acquiring imported ore. For a major iron and steel production and iron ore demand countries, it is even more important.
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