According to Ms Xie Qihua former chairwoman of Baosteel that Chinese steel production is very likely to break 500 million tonnes this year benefited from the increasing order books from auto and ship sectors and steel price would rise moderately next year.

Ms Xie is upbeat about future steel market due to the CNY 4 trillion governmental economic rescue packages. She said that "Steel price would hold the uptrend next year, though not so hectic as what happened last year. She also concerned about future price bubbles.”

Domestic steel demand has nosed up substantially since the second quarter especially for auto sheet. This coupled with the infrastructure-led stimulus plans sent monthly steel production in June and July higher than the same period of last year.

Ms Xie said iron ore imports surged 29% in the H1 amid rising domestic ore output. However imports in the H2 might decrease.