China’s iron ore demand not an issue for next decade, Agnelli says

Iron ore demand in the Chinese market will not be an issue for the next 10 years, former Vale ceo Roger Agnelli said on Thursday July 12 during a press conference in São Paulo, Brazil.

Paragraph entered by Atlantic migration, in order for SteelFirst articles to display correctly on Metal Bulletin.

“We are currently experiencing a market adjustment on the back of the commissioning of new mining capacities, which is normal for the long iron ore cycle,” he said.

He believes the current market slowdown reflects a financial crisis, mainly in Europe, and not a crunch in the mineral resources sector.

Agnelli is now chairman of B&A Mineração, a joint venture between his investment firm AGN Participações and Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual with a focus on developing iron ore, copper and fertiliser projects in Latin America and Africa.

He sees a growing demand for iron ore in the near-term, driven not only by China, but also by other Asian countries and emerging economies.

Asia will strongly invest in infrastructure projects in the coming years as part of its urbanisation process, while emerging countries will continue to have a healthy demand for mineral resources to keep their growth pace, he said.

“Around 10,000 new cities will be built by 2050,” he added.

Agnelli left Vale in 2011 after serving 10 years as its ceo.

What to read next
Copper in concentrate production from Ivanhoe Mines' Kamoa-Kakula complex in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) fell to 61,906 tonnes in the first quarter, down by 54% from 133,120 tonnes a year earlier, with the company now evaluating local third-party concentrate purchases to advance the ramp-up of its on-site smelter, according to an April 13 production release as the market focused its attention on the impact of global sulfuric acid shortages during CESCO Week in Chile from April 13-17.
China's planned sulfuric acid export ban from May 1, historic lows for copper concentrates treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) and a fragmenting 2026 benchmark system dominated CESCO Week 2026 in Santiago from April 13-17.
The proposal would align the index more closely with physically traded volumes in the region, and enable it to adjust to evolving market conditions. This proposal follows an observed widening of the spread between trader and smelter purchase components of the index and is aligned with a majority of market feedback. Additionally, Fastmarkets seeks feedback […]
Until now, aluminium has been hard to move, not hard to find. Global aluminium supply had remained technically intact, even as output was curtailed in parts of the Gulf, inventory buffers were drawn down or repositioned, and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was severely disrupted.
Global aluminium producers face heightened uncertainty over power supplies, with oil and gas prices elevated by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows, sources told Fastmarkets.
Fastmarkets is extending the consultation period for the methodology of several of its black mass payables indicators and prices, and is also proposing changes to the names of CIF South Korea and EWX Europe black mass prices.