Import curbs can't solve problem of excess capacity

It makes no sense to accuse Chinese steel producers of dumping in the global market, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday, commenting on moves by some countries to adopt anti-dumping measures against China's steel products.

"Imposing restrictions on China's exported steel products cannot solve the issue of excess capacity, which is often faced by the global steel industry in the process of industrial structure adjustment," Shen Danyang, MOFCOM spokesman, said at a regular press conference.

World prices for iron ore are still falling, cutting the cost of steel products in China, Shen said, noting that the import price for iron ore in the first eight months dropped to $63 per ton from $110 per ton about one year earlier.

At least 21 anti-dumping cases are pending around the world against steel products from China, mainly in Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Australia, the US and the EU, Wang Guoqing, director of the Beijing-based Lange Steel Information Research Center, told the Global Times Wednesday.

Foreign steel makers claim that China's cheap products are putting them under pressure, so they have pushed their governments to launch anti-dumping probes, Wang said, noting that the price of China's steel products has dropped to the lowest in two decades.

"Foreign steel makers suffered a lot recently with low profits and higher labor costs," Wang said.

Data from the General Administration of Customs showed that China's exports of steel products grew 26.5 percent year-on-year to 71.87 million tons in the first eight months, worth a total of 263.4 billion yuan ($41.33 billion).

The Chinese government did not encourage these exports as most of them are low-end products that will not benefit the industry's development in a long run, Zhang Lei, manager of the business department of Shanghai SteelHome Information Technology Co, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"Annual exports of steel products in the future will be less than 100 million tons, or 15 percent of total domestic steel production. Related measures will be rolled out to curb exports if they exceed the limit," Zhang said.

The infusion of technology and capital into the steel industries of developing countries is what the government is focused on, Zhang noted.

Shen noted that China tried to involve foreign countries to take part in communication within the industry to solve problems in the steel trade.

• [Editor:penny]