Arcelormittal SA: Duties sought on China steel imports

ARCELORMITTAL SA (Amsa) is seeking duties on steel imports from China as the continent’s largest producer tries to return to profitability after posting three years of losses. Amsa applied for import tariffs on flat-steel products and might consider a similar request for long-steel items, chief executive Paul O’Flaherty said yesterday. Flat steel, which included hot- and cold-rolled coils, is used in vehicles, pipes and appliances while long products are used for buildings and large infrastructure projects. “The applications have gone in and we’ll see where that goes. In today’s economy, it’s a challenge to fight a product that is subsidised.” O’Flaherty, who was appointed on July 1, is seeking to achieve Amsa’s first annual profit since 2010 as it battles increases in electricity costs that exceed inflation, plant outages and weak demand domestically. Steel prices in China and Europe have fallen more than 10 percent this year amid overcapacity, and the price of iron ore, a key steelmaking ingredient, hit a five-year low last month. Shares rose 0.09 percent to close at R34.30 yesterday. – Bloomberg