China's auto manufacturers will consume 12.55 million tons of rolled steel this year, Shi Jianhua, deputy head of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said on Monday.

The total will include 9.41 million tons of steel plates and 3.14 million tons of construction steel.

The annual demand will increase to 27.67 million tons by 2010, including 20.75 million tons of steel plate and 6.92 million tons of construction steel, Shi said.

Domestic output still failed to meet demand and imported steel filled the gap, Shi said.

It is estimated that China's automotive industry needed 17.94 million tons of rolled steel last year, a growth of 19 percent on the previous year.

The total included 2.96 million tons for car production, up 24 percent, 7.5 million tons for truck production, up 18 percent, and1.36 million tons for bus production, up 2.87 percent.

In 2006, China produced 7.28 million motor vehicles, ranking third in the world.