China’s iron ore demand not an issue for next decade, Agnelli says

Iron ore demand in the Chinese market will not be an issue for the next 10 years, former Vale ceo Roger Agnelli said on Thursday July 12 during a press conference in São Paulo, Brazil.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

“We are currently experiencing a market adjustment on the back of the commissioning of new mining capacities, which is normal for the long iron ore cycle,” he said.

He believes the current market slowdown reflects a financial crisis, mainly in Europe, and not a crunch in the mineral resources sector.

Agnelli is now chairman of B&A Mineração, a joint venture between his investment firm AGN Participações and Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual with a focus on developing iron ore, copper and fertiliser projects in Latin America and Africa.

He sees a growing demand for iron ore in the near-term, driven not only by China, but also by other Asian countries and emerging economies.

Asia will strongly invest in infrastructure projects in the coming years as part of its urbanisation process, while emerging countries will continue to have a healthy demand for mineral resources to keep their growth pace, he said.

“Around 10,000 new cities will be built by 2050,” he added.

Agnelli left Vale in 2011 after serving 10 years as its ceo.

What to read next
The publication of Fastmarkets’ Shanghai copper premiums on Monday December 23 were delayed because of a reporter error. Fastmarkets’ pricing database has been updated.
Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency of the publication of several US base metal price assessments to a monthly basis, including MB-PB-0006 lead 99.97% ingot premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-SN-0036 tin 99.85% premium, in-whs Baltimore; MB-SN-0011 tin 99.85% premium, ddp Midwest US; MB-NI-0240 nickel 4x4 cathode premium, delivered Midwest US and MB-NI-0241 nickel briquette premium, delivered Midwest US.
The news that President-elect Donald Trump is considering additional tariffs on goods from China as well as on all products from US trading partners Canada and Mexico has spurred alarm in the US aluminium market at a time that is usually known to be calm.
Unlike most other commodities, cobalt is primarily a by-product – with 60% derived from copper and 38% from nickel – so how will changes in those markets change the picture for cobalt in the coming months following a year of price weakness and oversupply in 2024?
Copper recycling will become increasingly critical as the world transitions to cleaner energy systems, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a special report published early this week.
Fastmarkets proposes to lower the frequency of its assessments for MB-AL-0389 aluminium low-carbon differential P1020A, US Midwest and MB-AL-0390 aluminium low-carbon differential value-added product US Midwest. Fastmarkets also proposes to extend the timing window of these same assessments to include any transaction data concluded within up to 18 months.