U.S. manufacturers face continued steel shortages as price gap widens with rest of world

The Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users (CAMMU) released its latest steel price tracker based on information provided by SteelBenchmarker® and issued the following statement: 

“Today is Manufacturing Day, a day to celebrate manufacturing in the United States.  Unfortunately, U.S. manufacturers continue to struggle to find the steel they need to help the U.S. economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.  Steel supply shortages, growing lead times and record high steel prices continue to create significant challenges for U.S. steel-using manufacturers.

The United States has become an island of high steel prices.  U.S. manufacturers are now paying $1348/ton more for hot-rolled steel than their competitors in China, increasing the price difference by $38 in the past month, and $856/ton more than their European competitors, up $117 in the past month.  The domestic steel industry’s capacity-utilization rate continues to be above 85 percent, far above the U.S. Commerce Department’s announced target of 80 percent that was used as a reason for the Trump Administration imposing the Section 232 steel tariffs.

Everyone supports a strong and healthy U.S. domestic steel sector but it is clear that protection from competition is no longer needed.  U.S. steel-using manufacturers can’t get the steel that they need and at competitive prices, and are losing business to competitors in other countries who are paying far lower prices for steel.  When steel-using manufacturers lose business, they buy less steel, which will lead to the domestic steel industry also losing business because U.S. steel producers only service the U.S. markets and do not export.

U.S. manufacturers continue to desperately need more steel in the market.  It is time for the Biden Administration to terminate the Section 232 tariffs.”