North China's Hebei Province produced 20.71 percent of the country's total steel, making it China's top steel producer in 2004, said an official with the provincial Metallurgical Trade Association.

Song Jijun, vice chairman of the association, said Friday that Hebei province has produced 56.41 million tons of crude steel, 52.83 million tons of pig iron and 46.98 million tons of rolled steellast year. This is a growth of 38.68 percent, 28.25 percent and 28.32 percent over the previous year, respectively.

Hebei has been the top steel producer in the provinces for the past four years. Song said he attributed the production growth to huge market demand, stable consumption and measures to optimize product structure.

He said that the country's macro-control policy has made remarkable progress, which has helped the steel industry in Hebei to score steady growth.

According to statistics provided by the China Iron and Steel Association, China is expected to produce 300 million tons of steel in 2005.

Source: Xinhua