Chen Yiliang, a reporter from China Economic Weekly, | Reported by Shanghai
According to the data released by the General Administration of Customs, in 2019, China imported a total of 1.07 billion tons of iron ore, and the import amount was 101.46 billion US dollars. At present, China has become one of the main importers of iron ore in the world.
At the third China International Import Expo (CIIE), Xie Xue, head of the World Iron Ore giant Vale China, told China Economic Weekly that although domestic real estate development is likely to slow down, Xie Xue expects China's steel demand to remain at a high level in the next few years, supported by infrastructure, machinery and automobile demand.
Xie Xue, President of Vale China.
Participated in the Expo for three consecutive years
Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Vale is one of the world's most valuable metals and minerals companies and one of the world's largest producers of iron ore and nickel, producing pellets, manganese ores, ferroalloys, metallurgical and thermal coal, copper, platinum group metals, gold and more.
Since the first CIIE was held in 2018, Vale has participated in the CIIE for three consecutive years and is the only exhibitor among international mining enterprises so far.
For the Expo under the epidemic situation to be held as scheduled, Xie Xue was quite impressed.
"The third CIIE was held as scheduled, sending a clear signal to the world that China has recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, which is an admirable achievement that comes from a series of cautious prevention and control measures taken by China since the outbreak of the epidemic." Xie Xue said.
Vale booth at Booth A1-27, Service Trade Zone, Hall 8.2 of the Expo. Photo by Chen Yiliang, reporter of China Economic Weekly
Xie Xue believes that openness has become a distinctive symbol of contemporary China, and it has also given Vale more opportunities for development.
"As President Xi Jinping said: 'China's door to opening up will only open wider and wider.'" Through CIIE as a communication platform, in the past few years, we have demonstrated our green mineral products, green logistics solutions and some innovative technologies. CIIE also provides us with a platform for active listening, and we have the opportunity to meet with our customers and partners during the EXPO to better understand their needs and requirements for our products and services. Xie Xue said.
Since exporting its first shipment of iron ore to China in 1973, Vale has had nearly half a century of partnerships with China.
Xie Xue said that Vale's growth is inseparable from China's development, especially since the launch of reform and opening up in 1978.
"It is because of our partnership with a fast-growing China that we have created Vale, a great company." Xie Xue said.
Continue to be optimistic about the Chinese market
At a time when the current world economic development rate is slowing down, Xie Xue told China Economic Weekly that he is still optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese market.
"Despite the potential slowdown in property development, we expect China's steel demand to remain at a high level over the next few years, supported by demand for infrastructure, machinery and vehicles. China's economic circulation policy will also boost domestic steel demand through new infrastructure construction and new urbanization construction (urban agglomerations around first- and second-tier cities). Xie Xue said that China's growing concern about environmental protection and the long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality will also bring development opportunities for Vale, "We will help Chinese customers increase the use of pellets by supplying pellet concentrate, and supply more 'green mineral products' to Chinese customers, such as Caragas powder (IOCJ) and Brazilian mixed powder (BRBF)." ”
Since 2006, China has been Vale's largest market. In 2019, China accounted for 73% of global seaborne iron ore imports and 61% of Vale's total iron ore exports.
Xie Xue said that in 2020, the demand in the Chinese market is still strong, with daily steel production of more than 3 million tons.
In October, Vale announced that it would establish a joint venture with Ningbo Zhoushan Port to build, own and operate the West 3rd District project at the Ratlang Lake Terminal in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China.
"We will own a 50 percent stake in the joint venture, and our capital contribution will be between about $109 million and $156 million. The construction of the project will begin after the two parties have passed the centralized declaration review and other relevant regulatory approvals in China. The West 3 project will strategically secure Vale's port handling capacity in China, and the project once again demonstrates our long-term optimism about the Chinese market. Xie Xue said.
Reaffirm Vale's commitment to carbon neutrality
Xie Xue told China Economic Weekly that at this year's Expo, Vale will not only continue to showcase the company's high-quality iron ore and base metal products, but also reaffirm the company's commitment to carbon neutrality and share the company's actions to achieve the sustainable development goals.
Carbon neutrality refers to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly generated by enterprises, groups or individuals in a certain period of time, through afforestation, energy conservation and emission reduction, etc., to offset their own carbon dioxide emissions and achieve "zero emissions" of carbon dioxide.
My country has just announced ambitious targets for carbon neutrality by 2060. In 2020, Vale also announced that it will invest at least $2 billion over the next decade to reduce the company's absolute emissions from Scope One and Scope TWO by 33% from 2017 levels by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050.
"Scope 1" of greenhouse gas emissions refers to direct emissions from the consumption of diesel, natural gas, coal and gasoline in operations that can be controlled and managed by humans. "Scope TWO" refers to indirect emissions from the consumption of electricity or steam, many of which we cannot manage, but which can be reduced through energy efficiency.
It is understood that this is the largest investment committed by the mining industry to date to combat climate change.
"We also want to contribute to China's climate agenda by helping Chinese steel mills improve energy efficiency and reduce emissions through our high-quality mineral products and innovative steelmaking technologies." Xie Xue said.
Editor-in-charge: Yao Kun
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