BlueScope is in the unusual position of taking advantage of the tough US anti-dumping laws on steel.
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The Port Kembla steelmaker also owns the North Star steel mill in Ohio, having bought out joint venture partner Cargill’s 50 per cent stake in October 2015.
The mill makes two million tonnes of steel a year and means the steelmaker can access the US market without having to deal with a policy that BlueScope CEO Paul O’Malley described as “anti-dumping on steroids”.
“We’re a very small part of the US steel market but we’ve got a fantastic steel business in North Star,” he said.
“We had nothing to do with their anti-dumping push there. It is ironic that we’re benefiting from it but we’ve been in the US for a couple of decades so we’re a very well-respected operator in the US.”
The BlueScope CEO said the United States’ robust anti-dumping laws were aimed at protecting steel jobs.
“The US steel industry employs a lot of people but they’re losing jobs at an incredible rate at the moment, so the anti-dumping response in the US is about saving jobs, just as it is in Australia,” he said.
“I think it’s entirely fair that they pursue policies that support domestic jobs, the fact that we’re benefiting from it is great.”
In Australia Mr O’Malley said BlueScope made the hard decisions to remain a viable business
... there’s absolutely no reason for us to shut down No 5 blast furnace if we’re internationally cost-competitive.
- Paul O'Malley
He said anti-dumping laws worked to protect BlueScope from other businesses yet to make those same decisions.
“One of the reasons we’re pushing anti-dumping is there’s absolutely no reason for us to shut down No 5 blast furnace if we’re internationally cost-competitive, just because someone doesn’t want to shut down an inefficient mill in another country and exports to Australia,” Mr O’Malley said.
“We’re keen on pursuing anti-dumping to keep that steel out and let countries who are overproducing go through their own rationalisation decisions.”