China's steel-product exports fell by 6.6 percent last month from June because of governmental curbs.

The exports of steel products from the world's top steel manufacturer since 1996 dropped to 5.94 million tons in July from 6.36 million tons in the previous month, according to Customs data.

It was the third consecutive monthly decline this year.

China exported 39.7 million tons of steel products in the first seven months of the year, an increase of 92.2 percent year-on-year. But the pace was down 5.5 percentage points from the first half.

China Iron & Steel Association Deputy Secretary-General Qi Xiangdong said: "The month-to-month downward trend proves that the government's measures to check steel exports are yielding results."

And exports during the rest of the year will continue to fall despite the price and demand in the international market remaining strong, Qi said.

Last month, the association said exports of steel products would grow 20 percent to 51.6 million tons for the full year.

China this year has taken a lot of measures to curb steel exports as part of its drive to cut its trade surplus and reduce trade frictions with other countries.

On July 1, it slashed export tax rebates for 161 steel products from 11-13 percent to 0-5. The move came a month after China imposed 5-10 percent export tariffs on 82 steel products and raised duties on exports of another 19 categories from 10 to 15 percent.

Also, on April 15, the country reduced export tax rebates for 76 steel products from 8-11 to 5 percent, and removed the tax rebates on another 83 categories.

The association said these measures would raise the cost of China's steel exports by 21.8 billion yuan ($2.87 billion) this year.

The country's January-July steel billet exports rose by 33.9 percent year-on-year to 5.27 million tons, according to the Customs data.

(China Daily August 11, 2007)