Reuters reported that steel imports into the United States are expected to grow for the fourth year running in 2013 to the detriment of US steel producers a US steel trade association said this week.
According to data by the American Iron and Steel Institute, US apparent steel use rose 7.8% in 2012 but in the same year imports of finished steel rose 18% gaining market share against the domestic supply.
The AISI expects imports to grow once again this year by at least 2% to 3% in line with steel use forecasts.
Association President and CEO Mr Tom Gibson said that the imports forecast might even be too optimistic because the global market remains heavily over supplied and pressure to export is high.
He said that "We are concerned about it. We have repeatedly raised the problem to our government. We are a competitive region, but because of the behavior of certain governments with their heavily subsidized state enterprises we have some challenges."
A global glut of steel production which the AISI estimates at around 400 million tonnes worldwide 200 million tonne of which is in China pushed various countries to export more aggressively last year.
China has been among the most active exporters to the United States and its exports rose a not acceptable 34% last year according to the AISI.