China is the world's biggest iron ore buyer and analysts expect its imports to rise this year after dropping slightly in 2010 as Beijing boosts steel output 

China's daily crude steel output rose to a record 1.945 million tonnes in mid-March, as steel mills banked on a pickup in demand when construction activity becomes brisk from April.

Zhu said the first Chinamax vessel that the company had commissioned, which is capable of shipping 400,000 tonnes of ore at one go, was delivered last week, and that many clients had approached the company about shipment with the vessel.

Global seaborne supply of the key steelmaking component has been increasing by 20-40 million tonnes annually in recent years, although a ban on shipments from India's southern Karnataka state since last July had thinned supply in the spot market.

India's top court on Tuesday decided to lift the ban effective April 20, freeing up about a quarter of supplies from India, the world's third-largest iron ore exporter.

OK WITH QUARTERLY PRICING

The world's top three iron ore miners, Vale and Anglo-Australians BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto , switched to a quarterly iron pricing system last year, replacing the aging benchmark arrangement in which iron prices were negotiated each year.

Higher spot iron ore prices, which touched record levels near $200 in February, have prompted miners including BHP Billiton to advocate a monthly pricing scheme.

But Zhu said Vale was still comfortable with the quarterly pricing scheme for iron ore.

Vale expects to ship 120 million tonnes to 130 million tonnes of the ore to China this year, flat from a year ago.

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