What's Hot
Tom Stundza, Executive Editor -- Purchasing, 5/1/2003 2:00:00 AM
Late in March, government trade officials excluded 295 additional products from Section 201 steel tariffs, covering about 400,000 tons of steel to be bought from foreign mills this year. Exemptions were granted because these products "aren't currently available in sufficient quantities from U.S. producers." However, the additional exemptions represent only 10% of the amount requested by steel buyers, who had filed 661 exclusion requests. The exemptions will benefit some steel consumers, but the process still has failed to guarantee reliable and competitively priced steel for small- and medium-sized steel-using companies, says William E. Gaskin, chairman of the Steel Task Force at the Consuming Industries Trade Action Coalition. "Exclusions haven't provided many steel-using manufacturers in the U.S. with relief from the price hikes, shortages and quality problems caused by the 201 steel tariffs imposed in March 2002," he says. "The primary objective for steel consumers is to satisfy end-customer demands [so] every steel consuming company needs competitively priced steel, at the right time, the right supply, and with a consistent quality." He should know. Gaskin is president of the Precision Metalforming Association, which represents metal stampers and other metalworking firms.
Now Playing: 