According to deputy secretary general of China Iron & Steel Association, however, Chinese steel shipment to one of the traditional major destinations Southeast Asia, like Vietnam, has plummeted in Jun due to seasonal dull demand.

He said that “Meanwhile, retreating domestic steel output growth has also led to steel export decline in June. In the first four months of this year, slower Chinese steel production growth has clipped worldwide crude steel output increase down 3.5 percentage points. And the outbreak of Sichuan quake has stimulated domestic steel demand and reduced steel export.”

He added that "In fact, the overly high steel export in May is partially resulted from steel export fever as steel exporters are desperate to rush out steel shipment amid flying rumor of 10% to 15% hike on steel export duty as of June 1st 2008.”

According to latest Customs data China's finished steel export has surprisingly fallen 340,000 tonnes from May to 5.22 million tonnes in June down by 1.14 million tonnes and 17.9% YoY from same time of last year. The June export tonnage has beaten the market expectation that the export volume is likely to hit over 6m tons in the month.