January 11 MetalBiz--According to the latest statistics from Customs, China exported steel of 3.34mln tons in December of 2009, up 490,000 tons from November, up 5.36% from a year earlier. The accumulative export was 24.60mln tons in Jan.-Dec. of 2009, down 58.5%.

China imported steel of 1.48mln tons in December, grew 190,000 tons compared with that in November, up 59.14% from the same period of last year. The imports were 17.63mln tons in Jan.-Dec. of 2009 totally, up 14.3% year on year.

The exported steel billet was 10,000 tons and import was 90,000 tons in December, slipped 210,000 tons from November.

China exported coke of 70,000 tons in December, down 68.18% year on year. The total export was 540,000 tons in Jan.-Dec. of 2009, decreased 95.5%.

The imported iron ore amounted to 62.16mln tons in December, increased 11.09mln tons from November or 80.02%. The import totaled 627.78mln tons in Jan.-Dec., up 41.6% accumulatively