China's dependence on foreign iron ore will likely reach new records, industry officials said, which could help underpin slumping global prices and intensify Beijing's efforts to diversify sources of the important steelmaking ingredient.
业内人士称，中国对海外铁矿石的依赖可能会达到新的纪录，这或许有助于支撑国际市场上不断下滑的铁矿石价格，并促使中国政府加大努力实现这种钢铁生产重要原料来源的多元化。
The forecast also foresees a rise in China's steel production despite government efforts to curb an industry widely seen as bloated and polluting. Beijing has pledged to curb industry suffering from overcapacity as part of its effort to restructure its economy, but the effort is politically difficult in places where such facilities are major employers.
上述预测也意味着中国将提高钢铁产量，尽管政府正努力遏制这个被普遍认为臃肿且高污染行业的产能。作为推动经济转型的措施之一，中国政府已承诺将整顿产能过剩的钢铁行业，但这一努力面临较大的政治阻力。在中国，钢铁行业由大型企业所主导。
China is the world's biggest buyer of iron ore, accounting for 63% of global imports last year. This year, its iron-ore imports are likely to rise 6% to a record 870 million metric tons, Li Xinchuang, executive deputy secretary-general with the state-backed China Iron and Steel Association, said at an industry conference Tuesday.
中国是全球最大的铁矿石进口国，中国去年进口的铁矿石占全球进口量的63%。中国钢铁工业协会(China Iron and Steel Association)常务副秘书长李新创周二在一个行业会议上表示，今年中国的铁矿石进口量可能会增加6%，达到创纪录的8.70亿吨。
Steelmakers are buying ore even as inventory at port-side warehouses piles up to near-record levels and a slowdown weighs on the broader Chinese economy. 'A lot of mills are now importing ore in competition with each other,' Mr. Li said. 'It's like, if I see that you're bringing in ore, I have to bring in ore as well.'
虽然港口仓库的铁矿石库存已接近纪录高位，且中国总体经济增速正在放缓，但钢铁企业仍在采购铁矿石。李新创说，许多钢铁厂现在竞相进口铁矿石，就好比，我看到你在进口铁矿石，那么我也一定要进口。
Part of the appetite may derive from rising global ore supply, which is making prices more attractive. The world's top iron ore producers are set to produce an additional 126 million tons, or 14% more, iron ore by the end of this year compared with last year, according to analysts.
中国的部分需求可能源自全球铁矿石供应增加，供应上升使铁矿石价格变得更具吸引力。据分析师称，全球大型铁矿石生产商今年的铁矿石产量料将比去年增加1.26亿吨，同比增加14%。
For miners, Chinese demand could help ease that price slide. Iron-ore prices are down 21% from a year earlier to around $122 a ton this week for a benchmark grade of fine ore, due to slower global growth as well as oversupply, though they picked up slightly toward the end of 2013 on Chinese buying interest.
对矿商来说，中国的需求可能有助于缓和铁矿石价格的跌势。受全球经济增长放缓以及供应过剩影响，本周基准品位的粉矿价格同比下跌了21%，至每吨122美元左右。2013年年底时，中国的购买兴趣曾支撑铁矿石价格小幅上涨。
China's cost of producing its own ore remains high at around 457 yuan ($74) a ton, compared with $30 to $60 a ton for imported ore, said Pan Guocheng, chief executive officer of China Hanking Holdings Ltd., a Chinese ore miner.
中国铁矿石开采商中国罕王控股有限公司(China Hanking Holdings Ltd.)总裁潘国成表示，国内铁矿石生产成本约为每吨人民币457元（约合74美元），依然较高，相比之下进口成本每吨仅为30-60美元。
The disparity is driving China's longer-term dependence on foreign ore, which Mr. Pan expects will rise to 77% of its total ore consumption in 2016 from 72% last year. He projected China's ore imports in 2016 would reach 949 million tons.
这种成本差异提高了中国对海外铁矿石的长期依赖性。潘国成预计到2016年，中国的铁矿石进口占国内铁矿石总消费量的比例将从去年的72%上升至77%。他预计2016年中国铁矿石进口量将达到9.49亿吨。
Sensitive to reducing its dependence on foreign suppliers, the country's top economic planners last month publicly urged Chinese steelmakers to continue shopping for ore assets abroad.
为了降低对海外供应商的依赖，中国国家发展和改革委员会（简称：发改委）上个月公开敦促中国钢铁企业继续收购海外铁矿石资产。
Mr. Li said China is likely to see more iron-ore imports coming from China-owned projects in Africa, rather than its traditional suppliers in Brazil and Australia. The two countries--home to the world's largest global miners BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale SA--still supply a combined 70% of China's ore.
李新创说，中国可能会从自己拥有的非洲项目进口更多铁矿石，而不是进口更多的巴西和澳大利亚传统供应商的铁矿石。巴西和澳大利亚拥有必和必拓(BHP Billiton)、力拓(Rio Tinto)、淡水河谷(Vale SA)等全球最大的铁矿石生产企业，中国70%的铁矿石供应来自这两个国家。
Africa currently accounts for just 8% of China's supply--3% if longtime supplier South Africa is excluded--but Beijing has been building relations with at least 15 African nations, picking up small ore shipments last year from new suppliers such as Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Swaziland, customs data show.
中国目前从非洲进口的铁矿石仅占需求总量的8%，如果剔除长期供应国南非，这一比例将降至3%。不过中国正在与至少15个非洲国家建立联系，海关数据显示，去年中国从几内亚比绍、坦桑尼亚、乌干达、赞比亚和斯威士兰等新供应国进口了少量铁矿石。
Last year, London-listed African Minerals Ltd. said Tianjin Minerals & Equipment Group Corp., one of China's largest ore trading companies, will pay $990 million for a mine in Sierra Leone. China Minmetals Corp. has a six-year-old ore supply deal with Mauritania. State-owned Aluminum Corp. of China is jointly developing the large Simandou iron ore deposit with Rio Tinto in the West African nation of Guinea.
伦敦上市的非洲矿业公司African Minerals Ltd.去年表示，中国大型铁矿石贸易公司天津物产集团有限公司(Tianjin Minerals & Equipment Group Corp.)将斥资9.9亿美元收购塞拉利昂一个铁矿。中国五矿集团公司(China Minmetals Corp.)与毛里塔尼亚签署了一项为期六年的铁矿石供应协议。中国铝业股份有限公司(Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd., 简称：中国铝业)正在西非国家几内亚与力拓联合开发Simandou大型铁矿石项目。
Mr. Li said China still has a strategic need to break free of the market dominance held by BHP, Rio Tinto and Vale. 'The speaking rights of global miners are still too strong,' he said, using a Chinese term that roughly means 'power.'
李新创称，中国在战略上仍有必要摆脱必和必拓、力拓和淡水河谷的垄断，这些全球矿商的话语权仍旧太大。
Beijing is trying to wield tighter control over a smaller steel industry, to reduce its price volatility and environmental footprint. But output of crude steel, most of which go into China's construction, automotive and manufacturing sectors, is likely to reach a record 815 million metric tons, Mr. Li said.
中国正在努力加强对钢铁行业的控制，缩小行业规模，降低价格波动，减少环境污染。但李新创说，中国粗钢产量有可能达到创纪录的8.15亿吨，其中大部分流向建筑、汽车和制造行业。
'Overstimulus in the past has produced complications and a reform dilemma,' Mr. Li said. 'Overcapacity in the steel industry is larger than we imagined.'
他说：之前的过度刺激导致局面变得复杂，造成改革陷入困境。钢铁行业的产能过剩比我们想像得更加严重。
Still, the association says the pace of growth will slow to 3% this year from 7.5% last year. Demand from the construction of smaller cities and towns will likely underpin the growth in steel consumption, Mr. Li said.
不过中国钢铁工业协会表示，今年粗钢产量的增长速度将从去年的7.5%放缓至3%。李新创说，小城镇建筑业的需求可能将支持钢材消费量的增长。