Service Centers
September 18, 2016
ASD Cleveland Meeting Features Cliffs Natural Resources CEO
Written by Sandy Williams
SMU attended the regional meeting of the Associated Steel Distributors (ASD) on Sept. 15 in Cleveland, Ohio. The meeting was well attended for a presentation by Cliffs Natural Resources CEO Lourenco Goncalves. Mr. Goncalves spoke about the environment, trade and how conditions in the iron ore industry impact global steel supply, or, in recent years, oversupply. Recent trade case successes are helping to correct illegal foreign trade policies. The U.S. needs steel exports, said Goncalves, but they need them at fair and unsubsidized prices.
China is moving toward correcting its excess supply problems and cleaning up the pollution that its redundant and inefficient mills have created. Eventually China will be a major player in the scrap industry as more EAFs are built and the country moves away from sinter feedstock. But, until it generates enough of its own scrap steel, look for China to become a major purchaser of scrap.
