This, is a good sign of thing to come IMO. Just wait until the U.S. turns the corner and growth starts again.

China's 2009 iron ore imports expected to hit 600m tones

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday total crude steel output was expected to reach a record of 571 million tonnes by the end of this year.

Posted: Thursday , 03 Dec 2009

BEIJING (Reuters) -

China's imports of iron ore for the whole of 2009 are expected to reach 600 million tonnes, up by more than a third compared with last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday.

In a statement, the ministry said total crude steel output was expected to reach a record of 571 million tonnes by the end of this year.

Total iron ore imports by the end of October stood at 514.8 million tonnes, up 36.75% compared with the same period of 2009.

China imported a total of 443.7 million tonnes of iron ore over 2008, and produced 500.49 million tonnes of crude steel.

The ministry, ahead of a conference on overcapacity problems in Chinese industry, said total production capacity at China's steel mills had already reached 700 million tonnes.