Northeast China's Liaoning Province, a traditional industrial base of China, exported 3.44 million tons of iron and steel last year, 3.5 times the figure for the previous year, the latest customs statistics have shown.

According to figures from the Customs of Shenyang, the provincial capital, the export value totaled 2.346 billion US dollars, 4.9 times the figure for 2003.

Liaoning exported more than 170 varieties of iron and steel products last year, according to the Shenyang Customs.

Asian countries such as the Republic of Korea and Japan are the leading export markets of Liaoning, which also exported iron and steel products to some European countries including the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium.

Statistics show that state-owned firms' exports accounted for 1.493 billion US dollars, 5.6 times that of 2003. The export volume by private businesses reached 316 million US dollars, 4.6 times that of 2003. Similar rises were also reported by local collectively-owned and foreign-funded businesses.

Insiders ascribed the increases to the shortage of iron and steel resources around the globe, and the big difference between low price on the domestic market and higher price on foreign market.