China's net export of steel products totaled 2.29 million tons in the first half of this year, said Vice President Luo Binsheng of the China Iron and Steel Association on Friday at a press conference.

This shows China has turned from a steel net importer into a net exporter of steel products, said Luo.

In the first half of this year, China's steel imports continued decreasing while steel exports kept rising, he said.

During the period, China imported 13.22 million tons of rolled steel, decreasing 26.84 percent year on year, and 773,800 tons of steel billets, down 75.74 percent, figures from the China Iron and Steel Association show.

Meanwhile, China exported 11.57 million tons of rolled steel, up 154 percent year on year, and 4.8 million tons of steel billets, up 261 percent, according to the association.

Although China's steel exports increase while imports drop, the pricing and technological gap between export and import steel products still exists, said Luo, noting the average price of imported steel per ton is 347 US dollars higher than exported steel.

(Xinhua News Agency July 30, 2005)