China's steel group says '09 domestic supply up 25 pct

Published: 02 Nov 2009 17:48:11 PST

BEIJING, Nov 3 - The China Iron and Steel Association, the country's steel industry group, said on Tuesday that domestic crude steel supply would increase by 112 to 117 million tonnes this year, or 25 percent, as oversupply in the world's top producer worsens.

Besides the skyrocketing steel output, the industry group said in a statement that the Chinese market would absorb 47 million tonnes of crude steel in 2009 that went to the export market in 2008, adding that it expects no big change in export decline or import growth in the rest of the year.

The association, known as CISA, called on the central government to take countermeasures to overseas protectionism and to control growth in steel imports.