CHINA'S steel companies will come under pressure this year as the government restructures the economy and competition heats up on the global market, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a report released yesterday.

China produced 626.65 million tons of crude steel last year, up 9.3 percent from 2009. The increase was 4.2 percentage points lower than that in 2009, the report said.

However, the ministry forecast steel production this year would rise by only 5 percent to 660 million tons, as the government steered the economy to a more sustainable path in the first year of the country's 12th Five-Year Plan period between 2011 and 2015.

The industry would face greater pressure to conserve energy and cut emissions, the report said.

China eliminated 44 million tons of outdated iron and steel production capacity last year, it said.

Fierce international competition would hurt steel exports, it warned.

The ministry also predicted iron ore prices would remain high, driving up the costs of steel companies.