Steel Imports

NEW YORK -- Even as it tries to fend off foreign competitors the U.S. steel industry is attempting to reclaim old markets and expand into new ones."Steel has successfully reclaimed numerous customers and applications from other materials, and has gained respect for its recyclability," said David H. Hoag, chairman and chief executive of the LTV Corp., the nation's third-largest steelmaker.At a news conference held at the annual meeting of the American Iron and Steel Institute, Mr. Hoag and the chief executives of four other major steel companies painted a picture of an industry struggling back to profitability but hampered by competitionand a lack of capital and threatened by new government taxes.

WASHINGTON -- Now that Big Steel has foreign imports on the run with successful trade litigation, it doesn't want the government to mess it up by making a deal with other countries."

Does there beat beneath the breast of William Jefferson Clinton the heart of a raving protectionist?The world was given good cause to ponder the question last week. President Clinton took the first major economic initiative of his new administration and what was it? A tariff -- ranging as high as 109 percent -- on flat rolled and plate steel from 19 of the nation's most intimate trading partners. This is a provocative act that amounts in many cases to a de facto embargo.This week he followed up by barring European companies from bidding on government contracts.

TORONTO -- The Canadian government imposed provisional tariffs on steel from the United States yesterday, two days after the United States imposed steep duties on Canadian steel imports.Canadian officials insisted that the proximity of the decisions was coincidental. But they left little doubt that their investigation of unfair trade by American steel makers was a tit-for-tat reaction to similar moves by Washington in relation to Canadian steel imports.Canada and the United States both took action against imported steel that they say is sold in their markets at prices below what it fetches in the country of origin.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Bethlehem Steel Corp. yesterday reported significantly smaller losses in last year's fourth quarter and said that, thanks partly to temporary duties on steel imports, it hoped to record a profit this year.Bethlehem, the nation's second-largest steel maker, also announced moves to help it reach its goal."If the economy continues to improve, fair trade in steel is achieved, and the value and demand for steel strengthen as expected, we believe that the actions we are taking to improve operating performance will return Bethlehem to profitability later this year," Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive, told reporters at a news conference.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. and other American steel companies received an early Christmas present yesterday as the U.S. Commerce Department slapped higher duties, ranging from 0.71 percent to 90.09 percent, on steel imports from 12 countriesThe ruling is expected to depress steel imports and to boost the prices of steel plate and sheet products, which are made at Bethlehem's Sparrows Point mill in Baltimore County.The amount of the conditional duties on various steel plate and sheet products varied depending on the company, country and the type of steel produced.

WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department tentatively ruled yesterday that several foreign steel companies were selling some types of bars and pipes in the United States at unfairly low prices or with unfair subsidies and moved to impose punitive customs duties on these imports.The rulings involve narrowly defined categories of pipes and bars. Imports in these cases totaled $314.5 million last year. The decisions are important mainly for the precedents they set for the Commerce Department's consideration this winter of 72 legal cases filed by U.S. steel producers June 30 against flat-rolled and plate steel imports from four dozen countries.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. steelmakers scored a first-round victory yesterday in their effort to persuade the government to assess penalties on a large share of U.S. steel imports.The U.S. International Trade Commission found that in all but 12 of 84 complaints by the steelmakers, there are grounds for a Commerce Department investigation as to whether foreign suppliers are selling steel in the U.S. market at less than fair value, through cut-rate prices or government subsidies.The charges, filed by 12 U.S. steel producers, including USX Corp.

Reflecting the growing competitiveness of its product, Bethlehem Steel Corp. finished loading yesterday 5,500 tons of steel coils on a ship headed for its traditional antagonist -- Japan.The shipment is the first steel sold to a Japanese company from Sparrows Point's hot strip mill, which recently underwent a $200 million modernization. The changes have improved the quality of the steel and made its price more competitive, Bethlehem spokesman G. Ted Baldwin said.The shipment comes shortly after the expiration of quotas on foreign steel imports, a move many U.S. steel companies fear will hurt their business.

The looming expiration of Voluntary Restraint Agreements -- the diplomatic term for steel import quotas -- on March 31 has sparked a debate among steel companies about how to protect their troubled industry.President George Bush has pledged that he will not extend the VRAs in favor of trying to conclude negotiations in Geneva on a much larger international accord on steel trading.Officials from more than 30 steelmaking nations have worked two years on a pact aimed at ending steel tariffs within 10 years, eliminating quotas and other trade barriers, and limiting subsidies.