Steel Products Prices North America
November 26, 2016
SMU Steel Survey Results: Foreign Steel
Written by John Packard
In the past foreign steel imports have been a key component to the health of the domestic manufacturing base in the United States. Foreign steel helps keep U.S. steel mill pricing reasonably competitive with the world steel markets. The domestic steel mills do not have the ability to produce all of the steel needed when we are in a “good” market which would be 125-140 million tons. Over the years, the U.S. receives approximately 22 to 33 million net tons of foreign steel per year.
Since the Great Recession we have not yet seen a “good” steel market, yet we continue to receive more than 24 million net tons of foreign steel and more. This has been good for end users but very damaging to the bottom lines of the domestic steel mills.
