Vale sees iron ore output up 50 pct by 2015

* Most of the additional production will serve Chinese market

* Vale building 20-vessel fleet with 400,000 tonnes capacity

HONG KONG, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian mining giant Vale SA (VALE5.SA:Quote) said it expects total iron ore production to rise 50 percent by 2015, an executive said on Tuesday.

Vale Minerals China Co President Luiz Meriz, speaking at a financial forum in Hong Kong, said Vale was making large investments to increase iron ore production to satisfy growing Chinese demand.

"We expect production to increase 50 percent by the year 2015 when we should be producing about 450 million tonnes of very high quality iron ore," Meriz said, adding that basically all additional production was likely to serve the Chinese market.

The iron ore producer aims to step up its investor profile in Asia after it made a debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange .HSI in December [ID:nTOE6B606C]. Vale is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Euronext Paris and the Brazilian BM&F.

Meriz said that with the majority of Vale's reserves located far away from Asia, the mining giant was placing an increasing emphasis on logistics.

"Vale is building a big fleet of more than 20 vessels with a capacity of 400,000 tonnes and they will operate with regular schedule from Brazil to China," he said.

Shares in Vale SA's Hong Kong portion (6210.HK: Quote) were trading up 0.5 percent by 0600 GMT.

(Reporting by Farah Master; Editing by Ken Wills)