iron ore Photo:VCG

China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) has announced to increase domestic mineral production by 100 million tons with five years in a bid to reduce dependence on imports.

The CISA said the plan which is aimed at ensuring guaranteed resource supply has been reported to four ministries for approval. The plan has proposed to effectively change the sourcing of China's iron resources, while also addressing shortcomings in the iron and steel industry chain, reducing external dependence of iron ore in the period of two to three five-year plans.

Under the plan, by 2025 domestic mine production, scrap steel consumption and overseas equity mines are expected to reach 370 million tons, 300 million tons and 220 million tons respectively, an increase of 100 million tons, 70 million tons and 100 million tons compared with 2020, CISA said.

Luo Tiejun, vice president of CISA said that China's raw ore production over the years has reached 1.514 billion tons in 2014, much higher than the current output, reflecting its strong development potential. 

"We believed that the production increase target is completely achievable," he said.

At present, China's iron ore dependence on foreign countries is as high as 80 percent, according to media reports.

Last month the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued guidelines on promoting the high-quality development of the iron and steel industry. The MIIT has stressed to make full use of both domestic and international markets to establish a stable and reliable diversified raw material supply system, strengthen the capacity of domestic mineral resources, and establish iron ore capacity reserves system.