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(AMM) Steel keen on US export revival plan, sees currency issue key

February 08, 2010 - 17:35 GMT Location: PITTSBURGH

KEYWORDS: National Export Initiative , steel , exports

The North American steel industry is striving to achieve some of the goals set out in President Obama?s National Export Initiative (NEI), a federal program designed to double U.S. exports over the next five years to support 2 million American jobs.

U.S. steel exports have been a largely spotty venture for years, depending on fluctuating international pricing dynamics and swings in the strength and weakness of the U.S. dollar. More recently, though, with the dollar weaker and emerging global economies exhibiting a need for steel, U.S. steelmakers have been presented with increased export opportunities.

Those opportunities must develop over time, however, as demand for steel from emerging nations improves and the global economy strengthens.

U.S. mills exported about 8.4 million tonnes of steel in the first 11 months of 2009, down 34.5 percent from almost 12.8 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier, according to the latest statistics from the U.S. Commerce Department. The numbers reflect the global decline in steel demand, which fell sharply last year as the global economic crisis deepened. U.S. steel exports to the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) region were...

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