铁矿石（炼钢的关键原料）价格自2009年以来首次跌破每吨60美元。目前中国誓言要削减钢铁行业过剩产能，并关停违反环保标准的钢厂。
价格报告机构“钢铁指数”(Steel Index)数据显示，澳大利亚基准铁矿石的中国到岸价昨日下跌2.80美元（跌幅4.5%），至每吨59.30美元。中国大连期货交易所铁矿石期货价格下跌3.1%，至3个月以来的最低水平。
对于几家领先的矿业巨头——包括力拓(Rio Tinto)、必和必拓(BHP Billiton)和巴西淡水河谷(Vale of Brazil)——铁矿石是关键的利润来源。
中国总理李克强在北京全国人大年会上发言时表示，经济下行压力正在加大，政府将削减过剩产能并解决污染问题。他还将中国经济增长目标设定在7%左右，为1999年以来的最低水平。
中国官方钢铁业协会表示，今年该行业高达70%的产能无法达到国家的环保标准。
据中国媒体报道，今年，中国环境保护部在山东省临沂市以及河北省承德市进行了检查，勒令它们关停违反环保标准的项目。
南非标准银行(Standard Bank)数据显示，中国钢铁企业的资本支出需要高达每吨100元人民币（合15.96美元），才能避免被关停并达到新规定要求，尽管它们已经在艰难应对糟糕的流动性状况以及微薄的利润率。
去年，中国钢铁消费量出现30年来首次下降，尽管钢厂的出口达到创纪录水平。
虽然环保标准将更加严格，但钢铁生产并没有出现放松的迹象。标准银行称，2月上旬，中国钢厂日均粗钢产量增加了8.14%，至177万吨，高于2014年全年日均产量（172万吨）。
随着今年晚些时候将有大量新货源进入市场，几家最大的铁矿石生产商都在准备迎接价格进一步下跌。
大部分利润来自铁矿石的力拓，将裁掉其位于西澳大利亚州皮尔巴拉(Pilbara)地区铁矿的数百个职位。其竞争对手必和必拓也已在澳大利亚铁矿削减成本。（中国进出口网）
The price of iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, dropped below $60 a tonne for the first time since 2009 as China vowed to cut overcapacity in the steel industry and close mills that violate pollution standards.
Benchmark Australian iron ore for delivery to China fell $2.80, or 4.5 per cent, to $59.30 a tonne yesterday, according to The Steel Index, a price reporting agency. Iron ore futures on China’s Dalian exchange fell 3.1 per cent to a three-month low.
Iron ore is a key profit generator for several leading mining companies, including Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, and Vale of Brazil.
China’s Premier Li Keqiang said downward pressure on the economy was building and the government would cut overcapacity and tackle pollution in his opening speech to the National People’s Congress in Beijing. He also set the country’s economic growth target at about 7 per cent, the lowest since 1999.
China’s official steel industry association said this year that up to 70 per cent of the industry could not meet the country’s environmental standards.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection carried out inspections in the eastern city of Linyi in Shandong province and Chengde in Hebei province this year, ordering them to shut projects that violate standards, according to Chinese media reports.
The country’s steel mills need to spend up to 100 yuan ($15.96) a tonne in capex to avoid closure and meet the new regulations, according to Standard Bank, even as they struggle with poor liquidity conditions and tight margins.
China’s consumption of steel fell for the first time in 30 years last year, even as exports from steel mills reached record levels.
Despite the prospect of more stringent pollution standards, steel production shows no signs of letting up. Chinese mills increased crude steel output for the first 10 days of February by 8.14 per cent to 1.77m tonnes a day, compared with an average of 1.72m tonnes across 2014, says Standard Bank.
The biggest iron ore miners are bracing themselves for a further decline in prices as a wave of fresh supply hits the market later this year.
Rio Tinto, which makes the bulk of its profits from the commodity, is set to cut hundreds of jobs in its mines in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Rival BHP has also been cutting costs at its iron ore operations in Australia.
