(Yicai Global) Jan. 14 -- China’s imports of iron ore jumped 9.4 percent last year from 2019 as the world’s biggest steel producer’s appetite for the raw material keeps growing despite prices almost doubling.

China imported a record breaking 1.17 billion tons of iron ore in 2020, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs today. The previous record of 1.075 billion tons was set in 2017. The country’s cash outlay was up 17.4 percent to USD118.9 billion as prices surged.

Chinese steelmakers are ramping up production as the nation spends heavily on infrastructure projects to boost the economy post-Covid-19. Output was likely to have been around 1.05 billion tons of crude steel last year, up 5.4 percent from 2019, industrial thinktank China Metallurgical Industry Planning and Research Institute said in December. The country’s consumption is likely to have jumped 9.6 percent in 2020 from 2019 to 981 million tons, it added.

Editor: Kim Taylor