BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- China imported 254,323 tons of unforged aluminum and aluminum products in the first quarter of this year, a decline of 7.7 percent year on year, according to customs statistics.

    Alumina imports went down 13.9 percent to 1.47 million tons in the three months.

    The decline was due largely to expanding production capacity at home, said Yang Hongjie, an analyst with Haitong Securities.

    Yang predicted that domestic production would likely to slow down in the coming months as the Government was taking stricter measures to curb extraordinary expansion in production capacity for alumina, unforged aluminum and aluminum products.

    Some other industry observers said import duty on raw materials would probably be scrapped in the near future. However, the policy won't be much helpful for alumina import, as domestic buyers prefer local products.

    In a related development, China exported 141,695 tons of unforged aluminum and aluminum products between January and March, down 51 percent from the year-earlier level.