In a presentation at the Goldman Sachs JBWere Australasian Investment Forum in New York on Friday, BHP ferrous and coal chief executive officer Marcus Randolph discussed the new steel projects in eastern China, such as those by steelmakers Rizhao Iron and Steel, WISCO and Baosteel, intended to lift output.

Randolph said 70% of China’s steel capacity and 70% of its planned steel capacity growth was in the coastal provinces.

He also noted China’s steel mills were building larger blast furnaces to improve productivity and reduce costs, which also require better quality coke and therefore more high-quality hard coking coal.

Randolph’s views echo those of BHP Billiton CEO Marius Kloppers last month.

“While we’re not sure that 2010 will be an exact repeat of 2009, we do expect the trend toward imports in this product to continue,” Kloppers said during the company’s interim results presentation.

China became a net coal importer to the tune of 67.57 million tonnes in 2009, while the country was traditionally a net coal exporter in the preceding years, with net exports of 17.43Mt in 2008.

China also accounted for 47% of world steel production in 2009 compared to 38% in 2008.