In April, due to multiple factors such as repeated epidemics and the continuation of the reduction in crude steel production, the production of domestic iron ore raw ore declined, and the strong performance of domestic mines in the first three months also failed to continue.

According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in April 2022, China's iron ore raw mineral output was 85.794 million tons, a decrease of 8.968 million tons compared to the previous month, a year-on-year decrease of 9.5%, and a year-on-year decrease of 4.5%; From January to April 2022, the cumulative iron ore output was 330794000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9%.

From the perspective of provinces, the iron ore production of Hebei, Liaoning, Sichuan, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Anhui, and Xinjiang accounts for 84.8% of the total national production, which can be called the "Seven Diamond" of domestic mines. In April of this year, the total output of raw iron ore in the seven major provinces was 72.7127 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.13 million tons, or 1.5%. The output of raw iron ore in other provinces was 13.0813 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 18.3%.

Compared to March of this year (month on month), the production of raw ore in Liaoning and Xinjiang increased, with the output of raw ore in Xinjiang reaching 2.7783 million tons, an increase of 62.6% month on month; In other provinces, except for Shanxi, which is basically flat, there has been a decline. In April, Inner Mongolia produced 2.9215 million tons of raw iron ore, a year-on-year decrease of 54.1%.

Compared to April last year (year-on-year), except for Hebei and Liaoning, other provinces have experienced a decline in their iron ore raw mineral volume, with Inner Mongolia decreasing by 41.7% year-on-year, making it the largest province among the seven major iron ore producing provinces.

At present, Hebei Province firmly occupies the throne of "China's iron ore raw ore output first". In April, Hebei's raw ore output was 38.2741 million tons, down 5.3% compared to March, but increased by 2.4235 million tons or 6.8% compared to the same period last year, accounting for 44.6% of the country's total output in that month; The cumulative output of Hebei Province from January to April was 143.1262 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%, accounting for 43.3% of the country's total output, which can be called half of China's iron ore production.

Next are Liaoning Province and Sichuan Province, with iron ore production accounting for 15% and 10.2% of the country's total production in April; The cumulative production from January to April accounted for 15% and 10.9% of the total national production, respectively, making it the second tier of China's iron ore market.

However, in terms of iron ore resource reserves, according to 2020 data, Liaoning's iron ore resource reserves, which occupy the Anben mining area, are about 21.648 billion tons, accounting for 25.2% of the country's total iron ore resources, making it a well-deserved family owned mine; On the contrary, Hebei Province, where the production of raw iron ore is as high as 43.3%, has only 11.2% of the national total iron ore resource reserves, and its static storage and mining ratio is far behind Liaoning Province.

Currently, the "cornerstone plan" based on improving China's resource assurance capability has been implemented. Not long ago, the Industry Department of the National Development and Reform Commission organized a symposium on iron ore project promotion, which was attended by seven relevant departments and bureaus, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Ecological Environment, the National Mine Safety Supervision Bureau, and the State Administration of Taxation, as well as the China Iron and Steel Industry Association and the China Metallurgical and Mining Enterprise Association. The focus was on the current situation of mine development in China, the obstacles faced, and the next steps to be taken.

From the perspective of fixed assets investment in the black mining and dressing industry from January to March this year, the investment volume from January to March increased by 89.8% year on year. Many new projects have already started construction, such as the 10 million ton grade mine in Xishan, which has already started construction. In addition, large iron ore projects such as Sishanling Iron Mine and Macheng Iron Mine will be put into production this year and next year.

Due to the policy shift towards vigorously developing domestic mines, the development of domestic iron ore has entered a new stage. Taking Anshan as an example, in January-February this year, the industrial added value of the iron ore industry in Anshan increased by 57.9% year-on-year, 50.2 percentage points higher than that of industries above designated size in Anshan City, driving the increase of industries above designated size in Anshan City by 12.7 percentage points. From January to February, the above-scale iron ore industry achieved an output value of 4.81 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 57%.

It is worth noting that on May 21st, the Ministry of Finance of India will impose a high export tariff on iron ore exports. According to the statistics of the General Administration of Customs of China, in 2021, China imported 33.42 million tons of iron ore from India, accounting for 2.97%. From January to April 2022, China's total iron ore imports from India were 5.36 million tons, a year-on-year decrease of 71%, and the average monthly import volume was only 1.3 million tons.

Although Indian iron ore accounts for a small proportion of China's total iron ore imports, following the supply gap between Russia and Ukraine, it is worth paying attention to the disturbance caused by non mainstream mines. At this time, moderately accelerating the development progress of domestic iron ore resources is increasingly important to ensure the supply of raw materials and the stability of prices. (World Metal Herald)