"Jim Kovar" wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...
I would guess that the biggest difference is in the making of steel/ I
have now idea how steel is made, but I do know that thanks to the rust
belt we will have a cheap source of new steel for many years.


I dunno, by looking at scrap prices the "cheap steel" days may be
over, at least for awhile.

Keep in mind that the reason the Chinese are buying finished steel on world
markets is that they don't have enough capacity of their own to keep up with
their current, extraordinary demand. Buying finished steel is about the last
thing in the world they want to do. They want to sell YOU finished steel,
and cheap.

Likewise, they haven't had a high enough volume of manufactured-products
output yet to have sufficient quantities of their own scrap. That, too, will
change. Their car production is into the millions now and they're increasing
production by 40% per year.

The ore situation is more questionable. I read something about it a year or
so ago but I forget if it said they do or don't have enough ore. In any
case, the thing that really drives prices is buying finished steel. Then
scrap comes into play. Ore is the third issue, and the one least directly
tied to prices.

So it will level off and probably turn around. The Western steelmakers are
making hay while the sun shines.

Ed Huntress