re: Domestic vs. Imported Steel

My Mexico and Canada buys slowed tremendously when the tariffs hit. But the mills quickly tried to split the tariffs, then finally decided to absorb the tariffs altogether because they (Mexican mills) were struggling. This was only certain mills. I never buy Chinese or Indian material. Our customers have a standing origin restriction of "NO CHINA". So we don't bother. Other distributors do buy the Chinese junk off the vessels that dock themselves in the port of NOLA and Houston. We choose not to. All of my material will have traceability with valid test reports.

On the average, my domestic steel price vs. Mexican steel price is just over 1.25 cwt difference, domestic being higher. At that price difference, I'll buy USA all day long. Plus, customers typically don't reject domestic material.

When China cheats and subsides steel so much that it kills viable steel industries in other countries, everyone loses. Everyone. The IB Chinaman pseudo economists that cry about the cost of rising steel, as if lower prices by any means are always a good thing is just pure stupidity.

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member12

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the quote in that image is fabricated, just fyi

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When China cheats and subsides steel so much that it kills viable steel industries in other countries, everyone loses. Everyone. The IB Chinaman pseudo economists that cry about the cost of rising steel, as if lower prices by any means are always a good thing is just pure stupidity.

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Well our steel industry was never dead and having a choice between cheap foreign or quality domestic us a good thing.

We are just putting ailing industries on lifelines, as we've done for the steel and auto industries for years.

This hidden price that many “free traders” never take into account is quality. Chinese firms say they meet specifications like ASTM, ASME, API standards but they have a history of not meeting the standards that American steel manufacturers are required to meet.

What does that mean? In most cases it means higher maintenance cost and shorter life cycles for infrastructure built with Chinese steel which translates into double and triple the costs over a 20 year period versus using steel manufactured to American standards.

That’s why in the pipeline industry we purchase American steel almost all the time especially for large diameter pipelines. Rarely do we purchase foreign pipeline steel. If it’s foreign it’s usually South Korean, Japanese or Indian where the track record is better. We just can’t take the risk of the steel failing and buying American steel is the first step in the risk mitigation process.