China's steel imports hit year high

China’s steel imports hit year high

The data issued by Chinese customs show that China imported 2.56 million tons of steel products in April 2005. This is the highest figure since last April, when 3.39 million tons of steel products were imported. The high quality flat products imported to be used for household appliances and cargo container industries accounted for the major part of the imports. Japanese Nippon Steel and South Korean Posco have been the major importers to the country. The lack of high grade steel production capacity in China and the speedy fall in the US steel prices are shown as the major reasons behind the increase in imports. The measures taken by the government in order to slow down the economic growth have not been influential on the steel imports.