NEW YORK: American steelmakers filed another petition demanding tariffs on imports of foreign steel, and warned that China’s devaluation of the yuan could have severe repercussions on their industry.
Six of the nation’s biggest steelmakers— U.S. Steel Corp., Nucor Corp., AK Steel Holdings Corp., ArcelorMittal USA LLC, SSAB Enterprises LLC and Steel Dynamics Inc.—filed their third trade complaint of the summer, as they attempt to stem what Nucor Chief Executive John Ferriola has called a “tsunami of foreign imports.”
The request targeted imports of hot-rolled coil—used in making cars—from Australia, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey and the U.K. China wasn’t named in the petition because the U.S. already has tariffs on imports of that kind of steel from China. The petition was filed with the U.S. Commerce Department and the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Overall steel imports into the U.S. have tapered off after rising 7% in the first quarter. For the first six months, they were off 4.6% from a year earlier at 20.9 million tons, according to Global Trade Information Services.
The problem for U.S. steelmakers is sluggish prices, which are held down by inexpensive imports. The U.S. index price for hot-rolled coil, a benchmark product, has fallen more than 20% this year to $468 per ton.
That is still about $100 higher than the price in Europe and $200 above that in Asia, according to steel buyers, making the U.S. a tempting market.
