China’s steel imports have declined over the first nine months of the year in reaction to higher international prices while exports have soared.

China imported 23.9 million tons of steel from January to September, down 15.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, the China Daily reported, citing China Iron and Steel Association.

Full-year imports were expected to reach 30 million tons, down from 37.2 million tons a year ago.

Meanwhile, China’s steel exports soared 67.1 percent over a year earlier to 8.63 million tons in the first nine months of this year. Exports for the entire year were forecast to be as high as 11 millions tons, up from 7 million tons a year ago, the report said.

International steel prices were about 30 percent higher than prices in China’s domestic market and that, rather than a decline in demand, accounted for the drop in imports, the report cited Luo Bingsheng, vice president of China Iron and Steel Association, as saying.

China has traditionally imported high-quality steel to make up for the lower quality products made by domestic steel makers.

China is expected to remain a net steel importer over the next few years, though it will increasingly meet demand through domestic production. Steel output hit 192 million tons in the first nine months of the year, up 21.6 percent from a year earlier.

(Shenzhen Daily November 2, 2004)