Cheers for the 'iron-clad' friendship between Brazil and China
Tracy Xie, president of Vale China
As a pioneer in economic and trade cooperation between Brazil and China, Vale is very proud and excited to see that bilateral ties have lasted 50 years, and are increasingly stronger over time.
Today, Brazil and China are the largest developing countries and important emerging market nations in their own hemispheres, and comprehensive strategic partners with broad common interests.
China has been Brazil's largest trading partner, export market and source of trade surplus for 15 consecutive years. Brazil is also China's largest trading partner in Latin America.
Vale's partnership with China started even before the diplomatic relations were established.
Our first iron ore shipment to China was delivered as early as in 1973. The volume sold to China represented just 0.1 percent of all the iron ore sold by Vale at that time. No one could have imagined that this distant country would one day become our largest market in the world.
Last year, we supplied 186 million tons of high-quality iron ore products to China, which accounted for more than 60 percent of our total iron ore sales.
In fact, China has been the destination for more than 50 percent of our iron ore products for 10 consecutive years, and our cumulative iron ore export to China broke the three billion tons mark in 2023.
China is also our critical supplier of products and services in mining, infrastructure, and logistics areas. We are honored to have established win-win partnerships with many leading Chinese suppliers, which allows us to take great advantage of the scale and technology that China's manufacturing industry has developed over the past decades.
Vale has full confidence that the Brazil-China relations will continue to flourish, and we are looking forward to making our contribution to enrich and expand our bilateral partnership in future.
Vale-CSU Joint Laboratory for Low-carbon and Hydrogen Metallurgy in Changsha City, Hunan Province, China.
The Joint Laboratory was launched on April 8, 2024, with a donation of US$5.81 million that was made by Vale to Central South University (CSU) in 2023.
As an outcome of a meeting of the China-Brazil High-Level Coordination and Cooperation Committee (COSBAN), it serves as a good example of the deepening collaboration between Brazil and China in the domains of science, technology, and innovation, and a symbol of the deep friendship between the two countries.
Milestones of Vale in China
- 1973: Our first iron ore shipment to China was delivered.
- 2006: China became our largest market in the world.
- 2009: The first Vale Hope Primary School was completed in Sichuan.
- 2015: We initiated iron ore blending operations at Chinese ports and launched Brazilian Blend Fines (BRBF).
- 2024: The Vale-CSU Joint Laboratory for Low Carbon and Hydrogen Metallurgy was launched.
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