China is on a collision course with the world's leading powers over excess steel output after it refused to sign up to an emergency global plan to cut capacity and eliminate subsidies.

The clash comes as fresh data show that China is still cranking up production and even reopening shuttered plants supposedly due for closure, despite the massive glut on the world market.

Chinese mills produced 51 per cent of global steel output in March and five times as much as the whole EU. Credit:Bloomberg

Chinese mills produced a record 70.65 million tonnes in March, 51 per cent of global output and five times as much as the whole EU.

"Just words from China are no longer good enough. It is now clear to everybody that the Chinese have no intention at all of changing the structure of their steel industry," said Axel Eggert, head of the European steel federation Eurofer.