China exported 8.75 million tons of steel products in the first
two months this year, up 139.3 percent year-on-year, according to
the General Administration of Customs.
The country's steel billet export soared 87.9 percent
year-on-year to hit 1.12 million tons in the January-February
period, according to customs figures.
China imported 2.7 million tons of steel products in the first
two months, down 4.6 percent, and imported 50,000 tons of steel
billet, roughly same as the amount of last year's same period.
China's steel products export totaled 4.38 million tons in
February alone, with a daily export of 156,400 tons, a year-on-year
rise of 10.69 percent, customs statistics showed. The daily import
in February stood at 43,600 tons, down 8.6 percent from last year's
same month.
Analysts said that rising exports indicated that some steel
producers have stepped up their exports against the expected cut in
the export tax rebate.
The soaring steel exports might prompt the birth of new policies
to adjust the export tax at an earlier date, said analysts.
China's steel exports soared drastically from a very low basis
at the beginning of 2006, so the statistics indicated irrational
changes, said Mao Zuhong, a research fellow with the United
Securities.
Mao said attention should be focused on month-on-month
figures.
Customs figures show that China exported 4.92 million tons of
steel products and billet in February, down 0.61 percent from the
previous month.
However, analysts said that expected export tax cut would only
slow down growth rate in total steel products export, it would not
change the growing trend in export.
China expects to produce approximately 460 million tons of crude
steel this year, a steady growth of 10 percent over last year,
according to the State Development and Reform Commission.
In 2006 the nation's crude steel output amounted to 418.78
million tons, up 18.48 percent year-on-year.
(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2007)