Imports reached 5.12 million tonnes in the January-April period and could soon top the 7.0 million tonne import target for all of 1999, the newspaper quoted a State Metallurgical Industry Bureau official as saying.

China chiefly imports steel from Japan, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine and other east European countries.

China is spending heavily on infrastructure to spur economic growth.Steep falls in the value of many Asian currencies since the beginning of the regional financial crisis in mid-1997 have made some regional exporters more competitive.

The steep rise in imports was putting pressure on domestic prices, the newspaper said.

Steel prices fell between 30 and 50 yuan ($3.60-$6.00) per tonne in the first four months, the newspaper said. US anti-dumping actions againstimports from China forced many Chinese producers to give up exports and keep their products on the domestic market.

That added to price pressure on the local market, said Huang Jin'gan, vice-director of the bureau's management department. Despite the bureau's goal to protect industry profits by cutting steel production by 10 per cent this year, total output rose 7.3 per cent in the first four months from the same period last year, Huang said without giving a base figure.

Huang said China had to adopt more flexible measures to respond to the new pressure. Steel sales to export-processing plants in bonded zones would be classified as exports and enjoy tax rebates, he said.