China's policies to curb export of high-energy-consuming products have partly paid off, as a sharp decline of steel exports drove down the country's foreign sales of such goods by a big margin in February.

Sources with the General Administration of Customs said on Friday that in February, China sold abroad 3.11 million tons of rolled steel, a decrease of 1.26 million tons, or 28.9 percent, from the same month of last year.

Exports of steel billets were only 2,000 tons, down 99.7 percent.

February saw China export 7.34 million tons of high-energy-consuming products, namely rolled steel, iron alloy, steel billet, pig iron, alluminum, copper, cement and chemical fertilizer, down 10.5 percent.

However, it was noteworthy that apart from steel exports, foreign sales of other high-energy-consuming products recorded increases by different degrees.

The nation exported 1.09 million tons of chemical fertilizer in February, up 120 percent on price hikes in international markets, 2.67 million tons of cement, up 16.1 percent, and 39,000 tons of pig iron, up 7.2 percent.

The customs sources said in the first two months, China's exports of high-energy-consuming products stood at 16.66 million tons, down 0.2 percent. But the export value went up 14 percent to 1.01 billion U.S. dollars.

(Xinhua News Agency May 2, 2008)