<p>BEIJING — China suspended some import taxes on steel Wednesday as part of a multiyear campaign to use market pressures to force Chinese producers to shrink and become more energy efficient and profitable.</p>
<p>Duties on crude steel, pig iron, recycled steel and some other products will be suspended May 1, the Finance Ministry announced. It said export taxes of 15%-25% will be imposed on high-purity pig iron and other products.</p>
<p>The changes will cut prices for Chinese buyers and promote “the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of the steel industry,” the ministry said. It said that includes reducing domestic production.</p>
<p>China produces about half the world’s steel but a slowdown in demand as an economic boom cooled after 2008 left excess production capacity and led to price-cutting wars, a surge in exports and heavy financial losses. </p>
<p>The United States and Europe complained China was selling at improperly low prices, hurting foreign competitors.</p>
<p>Regulators say they want to use market forces instead of government orders to force less efficient mills to close. They stepped up environmental enforcement while state-owned industry leaders were encouraged to merge and build more efficient mills.</p>
<p>More than 150 million tons of production capacity was eliminated between 2016 and last year, according to the government.</p>
<p>Despite that, total Chinese output rose 5.2% last year over 2019 to just over 1 billion tons, according to government data. </p>
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<p>Chinese Ministry of Finance (in Chinese): <a href="http://www.mof.gov.cn">www.mof.gov.cn</a></p>
