China may double the proportion of domestic iron-ore demand supplied by Chinese-owned mining assets abroad to about 20 percent in five years as the country’s steelmakers step up acquisitions, Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty’s Paul Gray said.

China currently buys about 10 percent of its iron-ore from mines owned by Chinese steelmakers in other countries, Gray, a London-based analyst with the Goldman unit, told mining industrialists in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The country’s steel producers, which hold iron-ore assets in Australia, are seeking acquisitions in Africa, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, he said.

Chinese imports account for about 70 percent of global seaborne iron-ore shipments. Total seaborne supplies may grow 5 percent this year to about 860 million metric tons as Chinese crude-steel output rises 8 percent, Gray said.

Richard Court, the Australia-based chairman of mineral research company GRD Minproc Ltd., said Chinese investments to prospect for minerals in Africa grew to $1.6 billion in 2007, from $500 million in 2006.

Find More Other News : Iron Ore, Mine Trade & Market, steel industry