According to Page 7 of the USGS document "Iron and Steel Statistics" the number of U.S. imports for steel in the year 2002 stood at about 30%, give or take a few percentage points. Check me please, I'm no mathematician.
However, according to the trade doc "Paradise regained for scrap prices"U.S. imports rose by almost 20% in 2004 - despite an increase of U.S. steel production of 3.2% - due to a increase in demand of 12%. This is borne out by the simultaneous increase of Chinese exports by 20%, which could be construed as being produced to fill the American demand gap. The forecast, according to this trade publication, is for imports to rise dramatically - equal or greater to the percentage of this year's increases - in the immediate future.
Now, here's where my head swims. I'll admit that I'm no mathematician, but I see their numbers and it tells me this year we'll see imports rise above 50% for foreign steel. I could be wrong.
Since you appear to know more about this than I do, how about you crunch these numbers for me and I'll change the statement if your hypothesis is born out. I'm no Dan Rather, and I don't have to worry about "fixing" a printed error or begging my editor; I'm just a Blogger, and I just fix it.
How about it? Do you have the statistics for imports on armor grade steel? Do you have anything to back up your statement that this article is "blatantly false"? If you do, spit it out - if not, go find some documents to bear out your allegations, or else renounce them. I've based this article on documents and statements from the congressional record, but if you've got something real I'm ready to hear it...
If you don't have the statistics, then perhaps you should let me know on this thread.
There has been a shift in steel production, from iron-ore based toward recycled-based over the last 20 years. Generally speaking, the recycled steel is much cheaper to make (for obvious reasons) and some US firms such as NuCor have popped up, without union labor, to fill the need.
The old-line steelmakers who 'do it from scratch' (USSteel, Bethlehem, Wheeling-Pittsburgh) are generally union shops and have a lot of very expensive equipment, not to mention mines, ships to transport ore, etc., etc.
The Chinese have also discovered recycled steel and are buying scrap like there's no tomorrow. THIS has raised the price of scrap, thus raising the price of recycled steel.
Now even NuCor is hurting for margin, because some buyers of their product have long-term contracts binding NuCor to a fixed price.