b'may 25 - june 21, 2020breakbUlk qUarTerly 5A distressed aluminum industry(ROSYcontinued fromindustryopensandremains page 4) open,U.S.Steelwillbe closeditsplantsinNorthcuttingitscapitalspending gets government help America on March 30 but hasthisyearby14percent,as since also announced plans toaresultofwhich,comple-reopen. tionofseveralofthecom-By Peter Buxbaum, AJOT TheshutdownofNorthpanys strategic projects will Americanindustry,notsur- bedelayed.Theseactions, Aluminumpriceshavefrom South Korea and Taiwan.Vietnam with punitive tariffs,prisingly, has depressed steelaccordingtoU.S.Steel crateredsincelateFebruary,In2017,Commercehitother(DISTRESSEDcontinueddemand, as a result of which,President and CEO David B. falling by over 50% during thatCORE and CRS imports fromon page 7) nearly seven million tons perBurritt,makeusstronger interval.Suppresseddemandyearofflat-rolledsteelpro- and enable us to weather the thankstoCOVID-19close- aluminum Imports by Ocean Carrier in MT duction have been idled. Thiscurrent situation.downs are certainly one reason.Ocean Carrier Q1 2020 Q1 2019 years automobile sales pro- The reopening of indus-AnotherreasonmightWagenborg Shipping BV51,235.31 283,840.99jections in the U.S. are downtrialplantswillhaveposi-be that China is dumping itsover 30% since the beginningtive impact on steel demand excess aluminum onto globalAtlantic Ro-Ro Carriers Inc 50,976.50 3,189.31of 2020. Demand for alumi- andincreaseddemandwill markets.ThedomesticU.S.G Two (G2) Ocean US Ltd 43,465.80 55,155.41num, and its prices, has alsoinfluencerequirementsfor industryhascomplainedSpliethoff Transport BV20,752.00 43,457.28been crushed. (See sidebar.) ironore,justifyingBHPs thatChinesealuminumhasMacs Maritime Carrier Shipping 17,684.30 32,725.58ArcelorMittalandU.S.optimisticoutlook.Butthe beenenteringthecountryClipper Steel Services Ltd 15,018.60 587.05Steelreportedcollectivelylonger-termimpactofthe through third parties to evadelosing $1.5 billion in the firstreopeningoftheU.S.econ-theTrumpadministrationsChina Navigation Co Pte Ltd, 13,480.48 -quarter. U.S. Steel announcedomyisfarfromclear,as Section232tariffs,andtheSaga Welco AS 10,283.90 1,669.21thatitplansonlayingoffitmayleadtonewdisease United States Department ofMSC-Mediterranean Shipping Co.1,106.94 294.46severalthousandemployeesoutbreaksandtheeventual Commercehasissuedpro- Atlantic Container Line AB346.06 142.35nationwide.NucorCorp.,re-closureofproduction posedrulestocombatthatOthers78,899.34 22,534.49thebiggestU.S.steelmaker,facilities.Itremainstobe phenomenon. announced it would cut pay inseenwhetherBHPGroups Industrial users of alumi- Total303,249.23 443,596.13lieu of laying off employees. positivepostureonironore num, such as the auto indus- Source: Descartes-Datamyne WhetherornotU.S.demand comes about.try, have seen their businesses fade in the face of the pan-demic.Early2020forecasts called for more than 16 mil-lion cars to be sold in the U.S. Nowtheindustryissaying they will sell no more than 12 million. As a result, Aludyne Inc., a global producer of alu-minum chassis headquartered in Michigan, is letting go of 250 employees at locations in Michigan and Georgia.AlcoaCorp.recently announceditwouldbeshut-tering its smelter in Ferndale, Washington, and laying off 700 workers. The aluminum giant says its trimming nearly half of its global smelting capacity.TheCommerceDepart-ments proposed rules would require importers to identify aluminumshipmentsorigi-nalcountryoforigin.The concernisthatsomeChi-nese aluminum is being sent tocountriesnotsubjectto U.S. duties, where its melted andrelabeledbeforebeing shipped to the U.S.The current system is a threat to the health of domes-ticaluminummanufacturers as the entire aluminum value chainisrespondingtothe unprecedented impact of the COVID-19pandemic,said LaurenWilk,anAluminum Associationvicepresident. Thereisalevelofgames-manship happening.Thisisntthefirsttime the U.S. has seen fit to inves-tigatetheoriginsofmetals. InMarch2019,U.S.Cus-tomsfoundsomeimport-erstransshippedaluminum doorthresholdsfromChina throughVietnamwithfalse declarationsoforiginand without depositing antidump-ing or countervailing duties.LastJuly,Commerce slappeddutiesonsomesteel imports from Vietnam for cir-cumventingantidumpingand countervailing tariffs against corrosion-resistant(CORE) andcold-rolledsteel(CRS)'