(Photo: People's Daily)

Tokyo (People’s Daily) -- China has taken concrete measures to stem excess steel capacity at home and has called for global efforts to tackle the issue, said a Chinese official in Tokyo Saturday. 

As the world’s top steel producer, China has phased out 150 million tons of steel production capacity since 2016, equal to 114 percent of the industry’s overcapacity around the world, said Li Chenggang, Chinese Assistant Minister of Commerce. 

Li made the remarks when he met with ministers from G20 countries and other industrial nations in Tokyo for the third global forum on steel excess capacity. 

Meanwhile, China alone has resettled 280,000 steel workers, which outnumber total steel workers respectively in the United States, Europe and Japan. 

Despite its capacity and production accounting for half of the world’s steel total, Li stressed that the China-produced steel is mainly for domestic purposes. 

At present, 93 percent of China’s steel products are consumed domestically, only 7 percent of its output is exported, which has not flooded the global market or contributed to overcapacity. 

Li reiterated that the cause of this round of steel overcapacity is the global economic recession combined with the decline in steel demand since the global financial crisis of 2008. 

The global challenge requires global action, Li noted and he called for forum members to channel their efforts on addressing the issue in line with the principle of the “global challenge, collective response,” consensus reached at the G20 Hangzhou summit in 2016. 

Li said China is willing to continue dialogue and cooperation with relevant parties in an open-minded way after the mandate of the forum expires in November.