Steel Mills

CSI: Slabs Should be Exempt from Section 232 Tariff
Written by Tim Triplett
March 6, 2018
California Steel Industries (CSI) is calling for President Trump to exclude semi-finished steel from the 25 percent tariff he is expected to impose on steel imports under Section 232.
CSI is a “slab converter” mill, relying almost entirely on imported slab as feedstock to produce coil steel sheet and electrical resistance welded (ERW) pipe. Because steel slabs are not consistently available in the United States, nor are they produced anywhere in the western U.S., CSI buys its slabs primarily from Mexico, Brazil and Japan. The company is the largest customer by tonnage of the Port of Los Angeles, importing more than 1.5 million tons of slabs annually. It supplies finished steel products to hundreds of manufacturers and distributors, supporting thousands of jobs across the western U.S.
Placing tariffs on slabs may run counter to President Trump’s goal of protecting American steel jobs. The slabs are critical to the health of converters such as CSI, as well as integrated steel mills, which supplement their production needs with imported slabs. Imported slabs represent about 6.3 percent of total steel demand in the U.S. There was no surge of imported slabs in 2017.
“So, imported slabs are not part of the problem, but part of the solution, particularly in the western U.S.,” said CSI President and CEO Marcelo Botelho Rodrigues. “Our model allows us to maintain our operations in California and comply with the strict environmental regulations of our home state.”
Rodrigues noted that there have never been unfair trading cases filed against slab imports. “We are for fair trade, and the international slab market in which CSI participates has no problems in that area,” he said. “Furthermore, we do not buy slabs from China.” On the other hand, he said, CSI was a key participant along with industry peers as a plaintiff in numerous antidumping and countervailing duty cases against unfairly traded finished sheet and pipe products.

Tim Triplett
Read more from Tim TriplettLatest in Steel Mills

August US mill shipments slip but still higher than last year
The American Iron and Steel Institute reported a decline in the monthly shipments of US mills from July to August.

TransPod, Algoma, Supreme Steel linkup anchors Canadian steel in high-speed transit build
The three Canadian companies have announced a strategic partnership to support the development of an ultra-high-speed transit line from Edmonton to Calgary.

Metallus, USW agree to tentative four-year labor deal
Metallus and the United Steelworkers (USW) have agreed to a tentative four-year labor contract.

ArcelorMittal Dofasco resumes cokemaking after emergency maintenance
The Canadian steelmaker reported on Sept. 30 that “urgent maintenance” was needed in its coke plant off-gas systems. The work required coke oven gas from the No. 2 coke plant to be flared for most of that week.

AISI: Raw steel production ticks back down
US raw steel output declined last week after increasing the week prior, according to the latest data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Output has see-sawed from week to week since mid-August. Still, it has remained historically strong over the past four months and has held near multi-year highs since June. Domestic mills […]