Final Thoughts

Those of you who know me understand that during my steel sales career I not only worked in the service center segment of the industry but I also represented a domestic steel mill and, during the last five years of my career I also represented two trading companies who were selling foreign steel into the United States. I believe in free trade and, the I believe in fair trade. What is fair and reasonable is a matter which can be debated (and will be debated at our Steel Summit Conference) and we may never come to a consensus of opinion. However, there are times when you have to look at the trading companies and the foreign mills they are representing and scratch your head. The South Koreans are a case in point…

The South Koreans must be very comfortable that the dumping accusations against them will fail as they are shipping steel to the U.S. as though we were their next door neighbors and they have a free pass to use the place whenever the need suits them. The amount of OCTG and other South Korean steel products which will exceed 500,000 net tons in May and is a direct challenge to the existence of the U.S. steel industry. At some point in time you would think that the South Koreans and the trading companies representing them would use some common sense…Don’t you think it would be a little wiser to wait until the dumping suits have been totally put to bed before you start shipping every pound of steel you possibly can?