Steel exports from top producer China fell sharply in February, indicating that Beijing's attempt to curb surging overseas sales by cancelling tax rebates on boron-added steel may have started to bear fruit. Preliminary Chinese customs data showed that steel product exports in February were down 24.2 percent from January at 7.8 million tonnes, though they were still up 62.5 percent from a year ago. "Given the China New Year distortions (in February) let's wait until the March data before getting too excited, but that's a big drop nonetheless," Nomura analysts said in a note. Last year China's steel exports rose 50.5 percent to a record 94 million tonnes, with about 40 percent of the overseas shipments containing the chemical element boron to qualify for the tax rebate. As such, the fall in exports last month provides some hope for an oversupplied industry struggling to absorb the flood of Chinese exports and battling with steel prices ST-CRU-IDX at their lowest since 2009. However, the China Iron and Steel Association has forecast that steel exports will remain between 80 million and 90 million tonnes this year and there are some concerns that Chinese steelmakers could exploit other tax loopholes. (Reuters)