The South Korea government is discussing a way to monitor the import of steel products from China. New monitoring measures could come into effect from November this year. The export from South Korea to China will incur a deficit if the situation is not improved. Imports of steel products from China reached 6.628 million tons in 2005 compared to 1.042 million tons in 2001, increasing by about 5.4 times. But the increase in imports doesn’t always mean a rise in demand but it increases competition in the market. Therefore, the government hopes that the monitoring system could help improve the situation. Steel imports fro China during the first seven months of the year totaled 5.476 million tons and it could rise to over 10 million tons this year. The import value was US$2.62 billion, but value of steel exported was US$2.76 billion during the first half of the year. The South Korea government is trying to improve this kind of deficit. (Sep. 22)