China vows greater iron ore self-sufficiency as ‘deglobalisation tide’ and coronavirus expose mineral supply risks

China will encourage domestic exploration of iron ore and use more scrap metals to reduce reliance on imports from countries like Australia, while streamlining production quotas for rare earth and tungsten, according to the government.

In the 2021-25 raw material development plan, authorities said iron self-sufficiency would be “significantly” increased by lifting the supply of scrap steel to more than 30 per cent of the total, encouraging domestic mining and reducing steelmaking capacity.