Chinese steelmaker Hebei Iron and Steel Group has joined the World Steel Association and Yu Yong, the company's chairman, is now a council member.

Hebei's membership became official at the recent 48th World Steel Association annual conference held in Moscow.

The Chinese steelmaker recently reported a 60% increase in its steel exports for the January to August 2014 period. The company did better abroad than on the domestic front having exported 15.5Mt of steel during the eight-month period. The recently released figure as up by a staggering 59.69% from the previous year.

Hebei Iron and Steel's total export value was up 43.38% to US$8.2 billion.

Good news for Hebei Iron and Steel comes at a time when some steel mills in Hebei province in Northern China have been asked to reduce or suspend production to help improve air quality in Beijing for the APEC meetings taking place in November. It is thought that the move could boost domestic steel prices, according to analysts.

While Hebei Iron and Steel is performing well in the export market, Chinese steel exports generally are likely to drop in 2015 following the abolition of a tax refund on steel products this year.

Speaking at the recent World Steel Assocation conference in Moscow, Chi Jingdong,vice secretary general of China Iron and Steel Association (CISA), said that Chna's surging export volume this year was partly due to the preferential policies of the government, such as the tax refund measures on some steel products.