HARDI: Prices High, But HVAC Demand Still Strong

Steel prices are way up and likely to move even higher given events on the trade front. But, so far, they have not hurt demand in the HVAC sector, reported members of the Heating, Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) on Tuesday during the trade association’s monthly steel conference call.

John Packard, publisher of Steel Market Update, recapped the trade events of the past month for the HARDI members. The Trump administration applied Section 232 steel tariffs of 25 percent, somewhat unexpectedly, on allies Canada, Mexico and the EU nations, treating them the same as China and other “bad actors.” It also reached quota agreements with Argentina, Brazil and South Korea. The administration has also extended its Section 232 inquiry to the auto industry, contending that imports of vehicles and auto parts also pose a threat to national security. That filing is in the comment phase through June 22, and a hearing is set for July 19-20. The president also announced new tariffs on $50 billion in goods from China under Section 301, designed to prevent forced technology transfer and protect the intellectual property of U.S. companies. The Chinese and most of the other nations have instituted, or threatened, retaliatory tariffs of their own. U.S. steel imports are trending considerably lower in June, Packard said, toward the low 2-million-ton range, down from 3.75 million tons in April.