Beijing: Amid the depressed capesize market the National Development and Reform Commission in Beijing has estimated China's iron ore demand will rise by 50m tonnes in 2013. Ramping domestic iron ore production will limit the good news to shipowners.

China's own iron ore supply will rise by 20m tonnes and the world's top three miners are expected to raise capacity by a combined 100m tonnes this year, the NDRC said on its website.

China imported a record 743.55m tonnes of iron ore in 2012, up 8.4% on the year, but total steel output rose just 3.1% to 716.5m tonnes, in line with a slower economy.

"Looking at the trends, oversupply in iron ore is unavoidable," NDRC said.

Source from SinoShip