Steel Imports Drop

Henry C.K. Liu hliu at mindspring.com
Thu Mar 25 07:54:09 PST 1999


U.S. Economy

Thu, 25 Mar 1999, 10:43am EST

U.S. Steel Imports Fell 19.2% in Feb. to 2.008 Mln Metric Tons

Washington, March 25 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. steel imports

dropped for the fourth consecutive month in February as the

government slapped penalties on cheap foreign products and

domestic prices slumped, the Commerce Department said.

Imports fell 19.2 percent in volume to 2.008 million metric

tons last month, with China, Japan and Korea accounting for much

of the drop. Imports had fallen 4.2 percent in January to a

revised 2.485 million tons, initially reported as 2.421 million

tons.

The total dollar-based value of steel imported fell 18.7

percent in February from a month earlier to $854.6 million. In

January, the value of imported steel fell 5.2 percent to $1.051

billion, initially estimated at $1.026 billion.

``Steel imports declined because of pressure from Washington

and lower prices in the U.S.,'' Michelle Applebaum, a Salomon

Smith Barney analyst, said before the report. ``It's a less

attractive market and the tariffs have created uncertainty.''

The Commerce Department imposed preliminary duties on hot-rolled

steel from Japan and Brazil last month.

Steel prices, still well below what they were a year ago,

are beginning to rebound, suggesting the campaign by LTV Corp.,

USX Corp., and other U.S. steel manufacturers to curb cheap

imports from Russia, Brazil, Japan, and South Korea is working.

The companies that filed trade complaints against Japanese,

Brazilian and other steelmakers say some of the countries that

have cut their U.S.-bound exports of products like hot-rolled

steel and steel plate are shifting to cold-rolled steel,

structural steel and other varieties of the metal and that

shipments from yet other nations are rising.

``The crisis in steel is not over,'' Curtis ``Hank''

Barnette, president and chief executive of Bethlehem Steel Corp.,

the nation's No. 3 producer, told the Senate Finance Committee

this week. ``The marketplace is here in the U.S. and they're

going to fill that market.''

Last year's surge in steel imports slashed profits,

shuttered plants and put thousands out of work. In retaliation,

the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a bill by a

two-to-one margin that would cap steel imports at about

26 million metric tons for the next three years.

However, analysts said the recent decline in imports lessens

the chance the legislation will become law.

The Clinton administration, which has negotiated an

agreement with Russia to pare steel imports from that country

back to 1996 and 1997 levels, is going to try to block the

measure. ``We will be working with the (Senate) leadership to try

to make sure that the bill as passed in the House does not pass

the Senate,'' said Commerce Secretary William Daley.

By region:

-- Shipments from Japan fell 49.7 percent to 192,419 tons.

-- Imports from China fell 62.9 percent to 36,515 tons.

-- Imports from South Korea fell 10.3 percent to 246,316

tons.

-- Shipments from Russia rose 16.6 percent in February to

55,710 tons.

-- Imports from Brazil rose 2.7 percent to 192,137 tons.

U.S. trade officials have begun scrutinizing steel imports

from China, U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefksy told

the Senate Finance Committee. The U.S. imported 98,508 tons of

steel from China in January, up from 59,831 in December. That's

about five times the level seen in January 1998.

``The sharp rate of increase is cause for concern,''

Barshefsky said. ``We will not allow others to jump into a vacuum

caused by the elimination of dumped steel from Japan or other

countries.''

The Commerce Department began publishing the steel report in

January in response to the flood of foreign shipments and falling

prices. The statistics are based on preliminary data collected

for the monthly report on international trade. The government

plans to publish the report for a one-year period. The March

report is scheduled to be released April 22.



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