Structural steel import market struggling

Oct 19, 2012 | 12:33 PM | Catherine Ngai

Tags  steel beams, merchant products, steel angles, Port of Houston, steel imports, Nucor, Steel Dynamics, SDI Catherine Ngai

NEW YORK — The structural import market is facing an uphill battle due to sluggish demand, sliding domestic prices and uncertainty about the upcoming elections, market participants told AMM.

"September was just an awful month, and I don’t know why," one service center source said. "The (import) offers we’re seeing lately just aren’t worth taking the risk."

Earlier this month, a number of domestic mills—including Blytheville, Ark.-based Nucor-Yamato Steel Co.; Tampa, Fla.-based Gerdau Long Steel North America; the Berkeley, S.C., mill of Charlotte, N.C.-based Nucor Corp.; and Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Steel Dynamics Inc. (SDI)—lowered beam prices by $30 per ton in the aftermath of a $47-per-ton drop in raw material costs (amm.com, Oct. 12). Gerdau, Nucor and SDI also cut merchant products by $40 per ton (amm.com, Oct. 11).....





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