April 26 (Reuters) - The boss of Spanish steelmaker

Acerinox says the European Union should do more to curb

steel imports from Asia, which are hurting some of the EU's

mills as demand and prices weaken.

"China raised steel production by 13% in 2023 while the rest

of the world lowered it due to weaker demand. Indonesia and

China have already surpassed 70% of the world's steel production

share", Acerinox CEO Bernardo Velazquez told Reuters.

With domestic demand not recovering as much as expected,

China's exports of steel products rose by 25% in March

year-on-year to 9.89 million metric tons, the highest since July

2016.

The call for more action comes after Acerinox warned on

Thursday that the European market had shown little sign of

recovering, even with its Cadiz mill in Spain being shut for

three months due to an ongoing strike.

The EU already has punitive tariffs in place on 18 grades of

Chinese steel and stainless steel products and set quotas on all

steel imports as part of measures to safeguard its market. Above

those limits, imports incur a 25% duty.

"Safeguard measures are necessary, but they are not

sufficient. The EU should impose more tariffs, imitating the

United States' model, so that the Asian markets have the same

rules of the game," Velazquez said.

The European Commission said earlier this year it was

investigating whether the measures, which expire on June 30,

should be extended.

In the United States, certain steel products face a levy of

up to 7.5% under a Trump-era policy.

Last week, U.S. president Joe Biden proposed raising tariffs

on Chinese metal products to 25% as part of a package of

policies ahead of the election.

Acerinox said on Thursday it would close its factory in

Malaysia's Bahru, which is specialised in cold lamination, in

the second quarter due to low prices among Asian competitors.

Swedish peer SSAB was less worried about the

competition from Chinese rivals.

"We don't see much Chinese material into Europe yet in our

product groups. But what we see is that China is exporting to

(South) Korea and India and those a bit into Europe," CEO Martin

Lindqvist told Reuters.