HONG KONG — China’s exports of steel are soaring. But that is not a good sign for the economy.

China has far more steel mills than it needs, a problem made worse by the country’s shrinking housing market, the most voracious consumer of the metal. Companies have scaled back or closed, as domestic steel prices have collapsed.

With scant demand at home, the remaining mills have looked beyond their borders for business. China shipped a record 100 million metric tons of steel overseas in the 12 months ended in February, a 55 percent increase from the previous year.

“I’m sure they are happy that at least somebody is buying it, but I don’t think that this is a strategy that Beijing wants to follow,” said Louis Kuijs, the chief economist for greater China at the Royal Bank of Scotland.

The country’s traditional drivers of growth — manufacturing, real estate and local government infrastructure spending — are now among the biggest threats to China’s economy.