World-leading container producers have announced a two-month halt to container production in China to ease output surplus, says the China Container Industry Association (CCIA).

The Xinhua News Agency reported CCIA said the decision had been passed by most of China's container producers at a national conference in Shanghai.

Factories agreeing to the two-month hiatus include the world's largest container producer, China International Marine Container Group Co Ltd, Singapore's second largest, Singamas Container Holding Ltd, and Denmark-based Maersk Container Industri AS.

The move is reported to start before China's Spring Festival on January 28.
CCIA said several production programs in China also would be postponed to control output.

China will produce 4.5 million TEUs this year while global demand from China is only 2.4 million TEUs.

CCIA forecasts the gap between production and demand in China's container industry will enlarge in future, with annual output to reach 5.8 million TEUs in 2007.