Iron ore production and trade in Russia

Abstract

The main question put forward in this paper is: Will Russia become a major competitor in the European iron‐ore market? The main purpose is to put the former world's largest producer of iron ore, Russia, back on the “iron‐ore map”;. Using production and trade figures for 1990 and 1995 and mine‐specific data on capacity, production, products, geographic position and foreign trade for every mine in Russia, it is generally concluded that while some facts favor Russia, others do not. The long distances between the mines and foreign customers, with the accompanying freight costs, certainly do not favor Russia. Among those that do is the fact that ore at the seven exporting mines is of high quality magnetite with an iron content generally well above 60%. As magnetite ore is cheaper to pelletize than hematite ore, Russia might possess a still unexplored competitive advantage.