Steel: Price and Policy Issues

[Excerpt] The rapid growth of steel production and demand in China is widely considered as a major cause of continued high steel prices and prices of teelmaking inputs. Steel companies have achieved much greater pricing power, in part through an ongoing consolidation of the industry. High prices persist, despite the revocation in 2003 of President Bush’s broad safeguard order on imports. U.S. steel production in 2006 was 108 million tons. The integrated side of the industry continues to lose share domestically to the minimills. Imports rebounded in 2006 to reach the highest tonnage level ever, though they declined in 2007. Input prices, especially ferrous scrap and iron ore, remain high, meaning higher costs, which have been largely passed along to industrial consumers. China now produces 40% of the world’s steel and is the world’s largest steelmaker and steel consumer. This contributed to a large global increase in demand for both steel and steelmaking inputs. China has become a large net exporter as well. In 2006, its steel exports to the U.S. market more than doubled, and it became the second-largest import source. Congress became increasingly concerned over allegedly unfair trade competition from China, and has considered many proposals to deal with these issues. In the 110th Congress, bills were introduced to allow penalty tariffs to offset a country’s manipulation of its currency exchange rate for trade advantage. The Commerce Department undertook a countervailing duty case against China, and the U.S. government also brought a case in the World Trade Organization against China over subsidies, including subsidization of steel exports. The U.S. steel industry sponsored in 2007 a report that detailed alleged government subsidies to the Chinese industry. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has terminated some trade remedy cases and orders against imported steel products. But in other cases, orders have been upheld, and new cases are proceeding. President Bush decided in a China safeguard case not to provide relief for domestic producers of steel pipe, despite a positive ITC determination. The Byrd Amendment, under which domestic steel producers receive distributions of trade remedy duties, was repealed by P.L. 109-171, and is no longer in effect from October 1, 2007. Internationally, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has abandoned the effort to achieve an international agreement to ban subsidies for steel mills. In April 2006 the World Trade Organization, (WTO) Appellate Body ruled against the “zeroing” methodology used by the U.S. Commerce Department in calculating dumping margins

The Mining Industry: From Bust to Boom

The Australian mining industry experienced a remarkable turnaround during the 2000s. The rapid growth of emerging economies in Asia drove a surge in demand for commodities, particularly those used in steel and energy generation. With global supply unable to respond quickly, prices surged to historically high levels. In response, mining investment in Australia rose to record levels as a share of the economy by the end of the decade. The rise in commodity prices has boosted activity and incomes and encouraged the factors of production to shift towards the mining industry. The boom has also been associated with a large increase in the real exchange rate, affecting trade-exposed industries. Overall, Australia's macroeconomic performance during the decade was much more stable than during the earlier mining booms, reflecting a stronger institutional framework.Australian mining industry; commodity prices; structural change

East Asian Steel Projections for the 1990s Revisited

In 1989 a research team from the AustraliaJapan Research Centre (AJRC) undertook a study of the prospects for the East Asian steel industry for the 1990s. The aim was to assess the impact of developments in the region on industry strategies in Australia. This paper reviews those projections to see whether they were right or wrong. It also examines the growth of the East Asian industry over the last decade in the context of developments in the industry worldwide and reviews Australias position in regional iron ore and coal markets during the 1990s. The central focus of the AJRC study was on what opportunities might emerge in Australia for the supply of processed steel product to the East Asian region in the 1990s. The main conclusion was that East Asia would shift from being a long-time and significant net exporter of steel product to the rest of the world to being a significant net importer of steel product, given then established trends in production, consumption and trade. At the time, this was a radical conclusion. It had an important impact on thinking about trends in the regional steel market in Australia, in Japan and elsewhere in East Asia. The main conclusions of the AJRC study turned out to be correct. The industry did not adjust to the pressures in the market exactly as predicted, partly because of the financial crisis in East Asia and Japans domestic stagnation. However, the conclusions about the growth of China and its impact on regional steel trade were particularly prescient. In the last decade, China has become the worlds largest producer and consumer of steel while Japanese consumption and production have contracted. Both South Korea and Taiwan have increased their shares of production and consumption of steel. Australia has entrenched its position as the dominant supplier of iron ore and coking products to East Asia.steel, Projections, East Asia, Japan, Australia, iron ore, regional steel market

China's Steel Industry

China's steel industry has grown rapidly in recent decades, with China now the world's largest producer and consumer of steel. This has resulted in a sharp increase in demand for iron ore and coal, Australia's two largest exports, which are key inputs for the steelmaking process. This article discusses the growth of the Chinese steel industry over the past couple of decades.China; steel industry; Chinese steel industry; iron ore; coking coal

15 insights on the global steel transformation

15 INSIGHTS ON THE GLOBAL STEEL TRANSFORMATION 15 insights on the global steel transformation / Witecka, Wido K. (Rights reserved) ( -

Harmful Effects of Import Restrictions and Non-Market Measures

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed import tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 on the grounds that steel and aluminum imports are impairing national security by weakening the domestic industries and released a plan to slap a 25% tariff on Chinese products worth $50 billion under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 for what it sees as intellectual property infringement by China. The United States’ unilateral actions are unacceptable under WTO rules, even though the existing WTO rules are deemed insufficient as rules governing multilateral trade activities including those involving China in terms of correcting distortions in the global market and protecting intellectual property rights. Trying to solve a bilateral trade conflict by power with no judge to referee is a recipe for an economic tailspin, prompting retaliation from the other party, causing a contraction in trade not only between the two conflicting parties but also across the world, resulting in a loss in global economic welfare. All trading countries, including the United States and China, should work to improve the functioning of the market mechanism by eliminating non-market measures and enhancing intellectual property protection under a set of multilateral trade rules, in order to prevent the United States from taking unilateral import restrictions and its trade partners, such as China, from taking retaliatory measures

２１世紀における非OECD諸国鉄鋼業のキャッチアップ：鉄鋼貿易の発展と技術の役割

Tohoku University川端望課

Gestion durable des ressources dans la chaîne de valeur européenne de l’acier

The present thesis delved into the current and future interactions within the European Steel Industry and of it with the environment it is a part of, with the main objective of supporting decision- and policy-making efforts oriented towards sustainability and circularity, helping to shape the future of steel in the European Community. The thesis used the European Steel Industry as a case study to explore the potential benefits of integrating Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) into System Dynamics (SD) under the scopes of Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology. A model representative of the European Steel Industry was built modularly in Stella Architect, following ILCD and ISO guidelines and standards for LCA. Throughout 4 of the 5 articles developed for the present thesis, 21 simulation runs were performed on the aforementioned model: 12 on identifying potential constraints and benefits of End-of-Life policies; 5 assessing the advantages and disadvantages of different Supply Chain Integration (SCI) strategies along European steel supply chains; and 4 addressing the interactions between biophysical and economic dynamics in the steel market. An additional article was developed using the methodologies of Circles of Sustainability and Sustainable Urban Metabolism to appraise the challenges and contributions of steel as part of servitization initiatives in urban environments. Overall results indicated that integrating LCA into SD was not only feasible and capable of reproducing results, trends and behaviors from previous scientific studies, but also of contributing to both methodologies in different levels. This approach has potential to interest policy-makers who seek more granularity within the European Steel Industry as well as decision-makers searching for a broader understanding of their operation’s dynamics beyond the gates, notably regarding raw material scarcity, resource self-sufficiency, and resource ownership retention. From the results of each article it was observed that, (a) pushing for recycling and reuse could generate interesting medium- to long-term results for circularity, transitioning away from fossil fuels and developing a whole new market around end-of-life services; (b) different SCI approaches can be environmentally and strategically promising; (c) six key biophysical variables can distinctively affect spot prices, future prices, EBITDA margins, capacity utilization, dividend payouts, and costs of steelmaking; and (d) servitization can provide significant benefits to sustainable cities, while also being able to substantially alter the supply-side dynamics of steelmaking, highlighting how important it is for steelmakers to pay close attention to the service-providing initiatives that may concern their clients and products.La présente thèse entend examiner les interactions présentes et futures entre l'industrie sidérurgique européenne et son environnement, avec pour objectifs principaux, l’amélioration de la prise de décision et l'élaboration de politiques industrielles en matière de durabilité et de circularité. La thèse contribue à l’émergence de propositions contribuant à façonner l'avenir de l'acier dans l’Union Européenne. L'industrie sidérurgique européenne est utilisée ici comme un cas d’école, visant à explorer les avantages potentiels pour l’économie circulaire et l’écologie industrielle, d’une intégration d’un outil (Analyse du Cycle de Vie – ACV) dans une méthodologie (Dynamique des Systèmes – SD). Un modèle modulaire pour l’industrie sidérurgique européenne a été construit et, pour 4 des 5 articles développés dans la thèse, 21 simulations ont été effectuées. 12 simulations ont permis d’identifier les contraintes potentielles et les avantages des stratégies de fin de vie; 5 d’évaluer les avantages et les inconvénients des différentes stratégies d’intégration de la chaîne d’approvisionnement (SCI) dans la filière européenne de l’acier; et 4 de traiter des interactions entre les dynamiques biophysiques et économiques sur le marché de l'acier. Le dernier article s’appuie sur une nouvelle méthodologie – les Cercles de Durabilité et le Métabolisme Urbain Durable – pour évaluer les défis et les contributions de l'acier dans le cadre de l’éco-fonctionnalité en milieu urbain. Les résultats ont montré que l’intégration de l’ACV dans les stratégies de développement durable permettait de reproduire assez fidèlement les résultats et les scénarios d’études scientifiques antérieures, tout en suggérant des apports méthodologiques relativement novateurs. Cette recherche opérationnelle est susceptible d'intéresser les managers et des chefs d’entreprises qui s’attachent aux questions d’efficience et de résilience de l’outil industriel, ainsi que les décideurs politiques qui souhaitent cerner les enjeux d’une pénurie de matières premières ou d’une politique de recyclage de l’acier à l’échelle européenne. D'après les résultats de chaque article, il a été observé que (a) le recyclage et la réutilisation pourraient générer des résultats intéressants à moyen et à long terme en matière de circularité, en abandonnant notamment les combustibles fossiles et en développant un tout nouveau marché autour des services de fin de vie; (b) différentes approches en matière de chaine logistique intégrée semblent être prometteuses d'un point de vue environnemental et stratégique; (c) six variables biophysiques clés peuvent avoir une incidence notoire sur les cours au comptant, les cours à terme, les marges d'EBITDA, l'utilisation des capacités de production, la distribution des dividendes et les coûts de fabrication de l'acier; et (d) la dynamique servicielle dans le cadre de l’éco-fonctionnalité peut apporter des avantages significatifs aux villes durables, tout en modifiant considérablement la structure de l’offre sur le marché de l’acier