Export Barriers and the Steel Industry

A healthy world steel industry depends on the free trade of the raw materials used to make steel. At present, trade in these raw materials is not free, as major producing countries impose a variety of restrictions on exports. These measures distort international competition by providing domestic companies with an advantage. In this way, export restrictions distort not only the world markets for these raw materials, but the broader world markets for steel and products made from steel. This chapter describes the export restrictions that a number of producing countries have imposed on raw materials which are used to produce steel. It aims to identify the impact such restrictions have had on international prices and on the availability of raw materials. Three raw materials are used as the basis for this analysis: iron ore, coke and steel scrap.