Steel Prices - Update

May 29th, 2008 at 03:29pm Bob Trojan

Since my earlier post on this topic, Congressman Manzullo has joined the battle. Long an advocate for small business, he has written to The Honorable Carlos M. Guiterrez and asked that the government see what can be done to mitigate the problems of rising steel prices. Some of us can pass them on, others are unable, so it presents a problem for some local manufacturers.

Specifically, and I quote from Congressman’s May 22, 2008 letter:

1. The U.S. government should challenge the foreign governments, particularly Brazil and Australia, where mining companies are headquartered to prevent holding our steel companies hostage to a global collusion of the raw meterials used in the making of steel.

2. The U.S. government should develop a comprehensive strategy, which includes the threat of using our trade remedy laws, to remove these foreign export restrictions on scrap steel, coking coal and other key raw materials.

3. We need to lower the pressure to raise steel prices in the U.S. by removing any outdated anti-dumping and countervailing duty orders placed on foreign imports, particularly those on steel products that are in short supply in the U.S.

4. We need to aggressively confront unfair foreign government subsidies.

(end of quote)

While new steel plants are being built in the U.S., I would rather see U.S. steel companies building them instead of German, Russian and Indian companies. (See article from Washington Post, link below).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/AR2008052703099.html?sid=ST2008052800220

Where do we go from here? What ideas do you have? Let us know and we’ll get them into the right hands.

Entry Filed under: Economy