China exported a record 7.68 million tons of rolled steel in August, an increase of 6.5 percent on July, or 42.78 percent on the same month of last year, sources with the General Administration of Customs said on Saturday.

Industry observers attributed the record-high monthly figure to price gap between domestic and overseas markets.

The Government postponed a zero tax rebate measure for steel export.

Some questioned whether the August figure would prompt the measure to be taken.

But most analysts believed that the postponement would probably continue, as the zero tax rebate measure was intolerable for some steelmakers, who had incurred more losses in the steel price slump on the domestic market over the past two months.

According to the customs data, China sold abroad 41.84 million tons of rolled steel between January and August, a decline of 7.2 percent from the same period of last year. But the export value rose 36.7 percent to US$41.9 billion.

In August the nation imported 1.33 million tons of rolled steel, down 7.64 percent from July, or 9.15 percent from the same month of last year. In the January-August period, steel arrivals stood at 11.06 million tons, down 4.3 percent.

The August net exports were 6.35 million tons, up 10.05 percent from July, or 62.2 percent from a year earlier.

(Xinhua News Agency September 13, 2008)