SHIJIAZHUANG -- The HBIS Group, one of the world's largest steelmakers based in northern China's Hebei province, has imported iron ore from the Brazilian mining giant Vale in use of RMB clearing.

The HBIS Group, or Hebei Iron and Steel, paid about 200 million yuan ($29 million) to Vale, the largest producer and exporter of iron in the world, earlier this week.

It was the first time for the group to settle in RMB with iron ore imports, and it was also the first time that Vale adopted the iron ore futures prices released by the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) as pricing references, according to the HBIS Group.

As the world's largest importer of iron ore, China opened the DCE iron ore futures to international investors in May 2018.