US steelmakers stress imports are still damaging domestic producers

United States – China’s headline-making finished steel exports may have tumbled almost 30% year on year to 59.6 million tonnes in the opening three quarters of 2017 but imports in general are continuing to damage prospects for US steelmakers, two leading players have emphasised in their latest financial results packages.

‘Imports continue to negatively impact the US steel industry,’ underlines Nucor. ‘Through the first nine months of 2017, finished steel imports accounted for an estimated 27% share of the US market and have increased an estimated 15.1% compared to the same period last year.’ 

While the industry is continuing to pursue trade cases to combat ‘unfairly-traded’ imports, progress has been ‘slower than we would like’, Nucor states. Success to date in the prosecution of product- and country-specific cases ‘is due to the overwhelming evidence that our foreign competitors receive support from illegal subsidies’, it adds.

For Steel Dynamics Inc., president and ceo Mark D. Millett says ‘elevated levels of steel imports persisted during the third quarter, hindering the ability for domestic steel prices to keep pace with raw material costs’.