U.S. manufacturers grapple with steel shortages, soaring prices

[dalton99a]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-economy-steel-insight/u-s-manufacturers-grapple-with-steel-shortages-soaring-prices-idUSKBN2AN0YQ

February 23, 2021
U.S. manufacturers grapple with steel shortages, soaring prices
By Rajesh Kumar Singh

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An aerospace parts maker in California is struggling to procure cold-rolled steel, while an auto and appliance parts manufacturer in Indiana is unable to secure additional supplies of hot-rolled steel from mills.

Both companies and more are getting hit by a fresh round of disruption in the U.S. steel industry. Steel is in short supply in the United States and prices are surging. Unfilled orders for steel in the last quarter were at the highest level in five years, while inventories were near a 3-1/2-year low, according to data from the Census Bureau. The benchmark price for hot-rolled steel hit $1,176/ton this month, its highest level in at least 13 years.

Soaring prices are driving up costs and squeezing profits at steel-consuming manufacturers, provoking a new round of calls to end former President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs.

“Our members have been reporting that they have never seen such chaos in the steel market,” said Paul Nathanson, executive director at Coalition of American Metal Manufacturers and Users.

The group, which represents more than 30,000 companies in the manufacturing sector and downstream supply chains, this month asked President Joe Biden to terminate Trump’s metal tariffs.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Joe: Kill the Trump tariffs.

[Brush Bunny]

1. Plenty of Cold Roll

across the Border in Canada. Dump the friggin Tariff's and the Trucks will be at the docks in California tomorrow morning.

[Klaralven]

2. Navarro's Ties to Nucor Highlight Trump Advisers' Steel-Industry Connections

WASHINGTON—When Peter Navarro needed financing for a documentary film on the dangers to the U.S. of China’s trade policy, he sought out Nucor Corp. , an American steel company.

Nucor made payments to fund the film through a San Diego nonprofit then led by a friend of Mr. Navarro. The arrangement was examined as part of a broader 2012 FBI investigation of the nonprofit’s finances, according to three former employees of the nonprofit. No charges were filed.

Mr. Navarro is now a top trade adviser in the White House, with a growing public profile for his get-tough views on trade. His connection with Nucor underscores the wide-ranging, historic ties between Mr. Trump’s top trade advisers and the U.S. steel industry, which stands to benefit from tariffs the Trump administration recently imposed.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a Wall Street veteran, spent more than $1 billion to purchase distressed steel firms and assembled them into a new company, International Steel Group Inc., which he sold for $4.5 billion to the London-based Mittal family in 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported at the time. He served on ArcelorMittal’s board until becoming commerce secretary last year.

Gilbert Kaplan, Mr. Trump’s nominee as undersecretary for international trade at the Commerce Department, is a former steel-industry lobbyist. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer represented American steel companies as a lawyer in private practice before his current turn as the government’s top trade negotiator. The USTR’s nominated deputy, Jeffrey Gerrish, and his general counsel, Stephen Vaughn, lobbied on trade laws for U.S. Steel Corp.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/navarros-ties-to-nucor-highlight-trump-advisers-steel-industry-connections-1521192602

High tariffs benefiting the steel industry! Imagine that!