Posted on 04/29/2002 9:15:49 AM PDT by LarryLied
China's biggest steelmaker has seen its profits plummet as it faces what observers believe will be a flood of foreign steel into its domestic market.
Now that the US has slapped tariffs on steel imports in an attempt to protect its own industry, exporting countries are thought likely to look to China's huge and booming economy as an alternative market.
Baoshan Iron & Steel's admission that net profits for the first three months of the year were 39.5% lower than last year therefore comes at a bad time.
The company, the fourth biggest in the world by market capitalisation, said it made a profit of 547.8m yuan ($66.3m; £45.4m) for the three months, on sales which fell 2.3% to 7.09bn yuan.
Flooding in
The losses at Baosteel, as it is known, follow a 14.4% fall in profits for 2001 as a whole from the previous year.
"In the first quarter of 2002, the domestic and international steel markets were sluggish and the prices of our core products such as cold-rolled and hot-rolled steel plates fell 11% year on year," it said in a statement.
Imports have surged since the US introduced selective tariffs of up to 30%. China's newly-minted membership of the World Trade Organisation and the lower tariffs it brings with it is also encouraging other countries to get in on the act.
Baosteel is now asking for government protection.
Help is on the way, in the shape of anti-dumping investigations launched against cold-rolled steel imports from South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Well they need it see? They are protecting their interests and in the long run going to be hurting the sales of every product theirs is tied to. But Bush did a good thing, supposedly. A tariff war doesn't have winners, just a bunch of broke citizens, rich corporations, and the lawmakers have fat pockets from voting the way they were paid to vote
Bingo.
I would be flattered if you even remembered my reasons.
Actually, lower steel prices in China not only forces antiquated, inefficient, pollution-belching Chinese steel-mills to shut down, it also makes your crapola, imported Huffy bicycles even cheaper at Wal-Mart. You have nothing to complain about!
I could remember that you had posted the best answers to the harshness on both sides when this issue was first debated on Free Republic and certain so called conservative talk show hosts took their long knives out.
It looks like you were right on target.
Our gasoline refineries are in the same condition. I don't think that a new gasoline refinery has been built for at least two decades. The current ones are held together with baling wire, duct tape, super glue and some incredible maintence work by creative and resourceful construction companies. The enviralists have prevented us from building any new refineries.
When you throw out the vile rhetoric from certain sides, the wisdom and knowledge that our Freepers share with us is awesome. Thanks to you for sharing this wisdom and insight when this first came up and for reposting it.
In a time of war, you can't be dependent on foriegn anything and in particuliar steel.
Repeat that until people understand.
As a student of language, I love that word. I guarantee you that it will become a documented, legitimate word.
Statements like that squelch debate. This because of this. And it makes just about as much sense, too.
Surely you know better. I despise tariffs. But it now appears to have been a method behind the madness.
I'll admit when I'm wrong. Will you?
Our consumers still have to pay an inflated price. How is that ever in our best interest?
Larry appears to be a rather naive dupe. His grasp of economics isn't all that solid. I guess he's what you might say has one of those 'soccer dads'mentality.
What ignorant stone-aged thinking. How many battleships have we built since the war started? This tariff is a tax on society to pay for retiree benefits in the steel industry. Don't be so easily fooled. Its embarassing.
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