China April iron ore imports hit record 53.5 mln T
Wed May 6, 2009 2:14am EDT
SHANGHAI, May 6 (Reuters) - China's iron ore imports rose to a new high of 53.5 million tonnes in April, up 24.2 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Transport said in a report on its website citing preliminary statistics.
Chinese steelmakers are increasingly reliant on imported ore, analysts have said, although mills are still locked in annual price talks with global mining majors BHP Billiton (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Rio Tinto (RIO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Vale (VALE5.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz). (Reporting by Alfred Cang and Edmund Klamann; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)