June 2012 | Steel Tracker
How long can mills ex-China continue their free-trade policies?: International Flat Product Market Analysis
Nucor Corp. this week announced a downward revision in its second-quarter earnings forecast due to increasing imports.
There would seem to be no economic climate that could dampen the Chinese steel industry, even in the adverse conditions they find their export market slowing, owing to issues in Western markets. However, due to the flexibility of its producers’ margins, it seems that China, for better or worse, remain well positioned in the industry. The arguments against China and its government subsidised steel industry have been well documented, however, are such practices ‘unfair’ in what is a free trade market? One could draw direct comparison from the propping up of the supply side in China by government subsidies and the government backed demand-side policies in the USA through such schemes as “cash for clunkers”, or even the government bailouts in 2008.In such poorly performing markets are...
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