Baowu Steel Receives Maiden Shipment of Iron Ore from Simandou
On 18 January 2025, Baowu Steel announced that it has received its maiden shipment of iron ore from the Simandou mine in Guinea. The bulk carrier bringing the 200,000 tonnes load docked at Majishan Port in Hangzhou Bay. Another iron ore shipment arrived in Rizhao Port in Shandong province on 21 January 2026.
Despite a cooling in demand, China remains the largest importer of iron ore and producer of steel. Before Simandou, China imported more than one billion tonnes of iron ore, and 85% comes from just two countries, namely, Australia (64%) and Brazil (21%).
“We are encouraged to see the first shipment of Simandou iron ore arrive at a Chinese port. Rio Tinto’s long-standing partnership with Chinese stakeholders is crucial to the successful delivery of the Simandou project. Simandou’s high-grade iron ore will not only contribute to the high-quality development of China’s steel industry, but also demonstrate the powerful outcomes that can be achieved through deep, trusted collaboration.”
Rio Tinto China CEO Frank Xu
China has also set up the China Mineral Resources Group to group and centralize procurement and exert greater negotiation leverage. The operationalization of Simandou is a game changer, and already, Australian and Brazilian suppliers have come under pressure to bring their prices down.
The Simandou is forecasted to produce 120 million tonnes of iron ore annually. A new bulk port and railway line were purposely built to ship the iron ore from the Simandou hills.
Back in November 2025, China’s Vice Premier LIU Guozhong attended the grand commissioning ceremony of the Simandou Mine, right before the first shipment was being readied. Australian media even called Simandou, the ‘Pilbara Killer.’ However, given the production capacity at Guinea, it still has some way to go catch up with Australia, but it will give China leverage in negotiating the price.
The Winning Consortium Simandou (WCS) is expected to transfer some of its shares in the Simandou mine to Baowu, making Baowu a larger shareholder as well as being an offtaker. Iron ore prices dropped from a high of nearly USD 200 dollars per tonne in 2022 to about USD 100 per tonne in December 2025.