When asked about the ideal balance between domestic steel and imported steel, panelists at SteelOrbis’ 10th Annual Rebar & Wire Rod Conference in Las Vegas on Monday, Jan. 21 could not quite agree. Chris Casey, President of the Independent Steel Alliance, said that there will “always be a place for import material,” even though many rebar buyers prefer US-produced material overall for several reasons, including logistics and “pride.”
Imported steel offered into the US market at reasonable prices represents an “unmet demand” for the product in the US, Casey said, adding that imports are also necessary to allow consumers to be competitive. John Foster, President of Kurt Orban Partners and Chairman of the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS), said imported steel is also necessary to “keep US mills honest.” Tom Gibson, President and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), agreed that imports will always be a part of the US steel market.
Casey said that even if US mills increased capacity enough to supply much more than they already do, for long product mills specifically, allocation would remain a problem. “The problem is most mills are mixed product mills,” Casey said, “so which products are allocated for production?” Casey said producing higher profit margin products such as merchant bar “makes sense” from a business perspective, but there is a greater demand for rebar compared to merchant bar, and rebar buyers might not be able to get all the product they need, which is another reason why imports are a critical part of the overall US steel market.
The domestic and import aspects of the US steel market do not necessarily need to be in conflict, according to the panelists. Gibson and Foster both agreed on a few “common ground” interests among their respective organizations, including combating the problem of global overcapacity. Foster and Gibson also both agreed that the ongoing US government shutdown is also having a negative effect on the steel industry, especially as it relates to exclusion applications for the Section 232 tariffs, which are at a standstill for as long as the Department of Commerce remains closed.