China will cancel export license management for steel products in order to boost exports, effective Jan 1, 2009, sources said.

The move will be the latest measure after China abolished export tax on steel products, amid efforts to increase China's steel exports.

China applied export license management to 83 steel products in May 2007 to rein in the expanding steel exports and trade surplus, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

China's steel exports stood at 2.95 million tons in November, down 36.15 percent or 1.67 million tons from October, according to the General Administration of Customs. It marks a record low since May 2006.

From January to November this year, steel exports totaled 56.06 million tons, down 3.2 percent from a year earlier, customs statistics show.

(China Daily December 17, 2008)