It is reported that China will continue to exhibit strong demand for iron ore in next few years and would increase its share of consumption to 56% by 2011.

Mr Michael Zhu president of Companhia Vale do Rio Doce China at a recently held conference said that "In 2000, China consumed just 15.4% of the world's iron ore, but that rose to 49% in 2007 and will hit 56% by 2011.”

He informed that Vale will keep pace with expected demand increases by steelmakers and plans to put up the capital to make it possible. He said that "Between 2003 and 2007, we invested a total of USD 20 billion in iron ore projects. But between this year and 2012, we plan a CAPEX of USD 59 billion. Our capex for this year is USD 11 billion, 70% of which is in new projects.”

Mr Zhu said that increased iron ore mining is based on robust forecasts for steel output worldwide. He said "We expect 8.8% to 9% average annual global steel output growth over the next five years, reaching 1.7 billion tonnes by 2012.”