China in the crosshairs as steel imports rise.(Mittal Steel Company N.V.)

Purchasing, December, 2006

By Tom Stundza

As U. S. buyers continue to look offshore for supply, new lawsuits, tariffs and other protection measures aim to curb imports. Meanwhile, China is reorganizing its steel industry.

Nine-month imports of foreign-made steel into the U.S. have increased by 45%, or about three times the overall growth in steel demand. More importantly, U.S. buyers sourced 3.4 million tons of steel from China through September of this year, compared with 2.2 million tons for all of 2005. So, with 92% of the buyers polled monthly by Purchasing looking offshore for supply all this year, it appears that China has become a major steel supplier of choice. And that isn't settling well with the domestic--or world steel industry.

"With China now a...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.