Chinese industry ministry said China’s steel exports were expected to reach 45 million tons in 2011, up 5.7% from a year earlier.

However, China’s steel imports were likely to be 16 million tons in comparison of 16.43 million tons in 2010, according to report of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

It's reported that China’s steel imports totaled 8.03 million tons in the first half of this year, down by 4.8% year on year; while, its steel exports slightly up by 3.2% to 24.33 million tons.

Earlier, the China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) forecasted that China was expected to produce 690 million ~ 700 million tons of crude steel this year, up from 627 million tons in a year earlier.

Also, CISA estimated that the world’s top steel producer would have 800 million tons of steel production capacity and mill would suffer from the pressure of oversupply and rising iron ore costs.

The ministry warned that steel production may slow in the second half of this year due to lower industrial production growth, power shortage, the halt of inefficient steelmaking capacity and tighter credit curbs.