USA breaks records for steel imports

Although official figures have yet to be released, Thomas Gibson, president of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), said the United States imported a record amount of steel last year. Imports to the country accounted for the largest market share of steel ever purchased.

After calculating the number of imports of finished steel products at the end of the year, it was found that imports received 28 percent of the overall market, Gibson said. This exceeds the previous high in 1998 and 2006, when steel imports stood at 26 percent. He pointed out that the reason for the increase in steel imports is that there is a very large amount of overcapacity in the Asian economy, especially in the steel industry, which results in lower prices than in the United States. The world steel overproduction is estimated to have reached 628 million tonnes.

China, as well as other foreign countries, will continue to build new metallurgical plants to create new jobs, increasing production of steel, which exceeds domestic demand in volume, and they plan to sell it abroad. Steel producers are seeking significant subsidies and the ability to overburden export markets.

In the United States, according to AISI, only the maintenance of incentives and credits can increase manufacturing competitiveness. The government should lower the general tax paid by American businesses. The institute noted that the combined income tax rate in the United States is almost 40 percent and is the highest in the world.