Material and value flows of iron in Chinese international trade from 2010 to 2016

• Published in: Resources policy 2018-12, Vol.59, p.139-147
• Main Authors: Qiangfeng, Li, Weiqiong, Zhong, Gaoshang, Wang, Jinhua, Cheng, Tao, Dai, Bojie, Wen, Liang, Liang, Qindong, Yang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: China; Commodities; Growth rate; Industrial policy; International trade; Iron; Iron ores; Land; Machinery; Material flow analysis; Metal industry; Ores; Resource allocation; Trade policy; Value flow
• ISSN: 0301-4207; 1873-7641
• DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2018.06.011

The study of flows of iron-containing commodities through China can reveal international trade pathways and the processes involved in global iron material flows. This study presents an iron material flow analysis that incorporates all iron-containing commodities, including IEPs (iron-containing end products). We analyzed material and value flows of iron-containing commodities between China and other countries worldwide. The results are as follows. (1) During the period from 2010 to 2016, the total amounts of iron materials imported to and exported from China increased by 224 million tons and 81 million tons, respectively. (2) 90% of the iron material imported by China consisted of iron ore and was imported from Australia and Brazil. More than 98% of the iron material exported from China consisted of rolled steel and IEPs (mainly engineering machinery and land vehicles), and were exported to Japan, South Korea, and the United States. In 2014, the export volume of rolled steel exceeded that of IEPs. (3) China had an international iron trade surplus, which increased from 31 billion USD in 2010 to 272 billion USD in 2016 at an average annual growth rate of 130%. According to this, some suggestions on how to optimize the resource allocation in the industrial chain of iron-containing products and the international trade policy of iron-containing products were put forward. •Chinese iron commodity material and value flows were tracked between 2010 and 2016.•We incorporated all iron commodities, including iron end products, in our analysis.•Total amounts of imported and exported iron materials increased from 2010 to 2016.•~ 90% of imported iron was iron ore; > 98% of exported iron was IEPs or rolled steel.•The international iron trade surplus increased from 31 to 272 billion USD at 130%/yr.