US export data

 Th::Rol~~r Im~rts Table 2.24 contains data on world and United States steel trade. It is apparent that the Uniteà States has moved from a n...

 Th::Rol~~r Im~rts Table 2.24 contains data on world and United States steel trade. It is apparent that the Uniteà States has moved from a net exporter of steel mill products to a significant net importer. In an effort to àetermine if the longrun pricing policy has been responsible for this change, tnree selected steel mill products are examined: hot r?,;le.d carbon sheet (HRS)., cold rolled carbon sheet (CRS), and wire rod (WR). HRS and CRS were selected because they are representative of flat rolleò proõucts, generally produced by major steel mills and because together they account for one-third of net industry shipments. WR was chosen because it is representative of the non-flat type product which the rninimills are capable of producing. Tables 4.2, 4

.3, and 4.4 present import and export òata relevant to these three products àur ing the years 1950-76. Clearly, cOffparative cost considerations are crucial in òetermining if pricing policy contributed to the observed erosion of àomestic markets. The pricing policy hypothesis of import erosion argues that dOffestic producers maintained prices above competitive levels, thereby forming a price umbrella under which competitively priced imports were free to eroòe domestic markets. However, if costs for foreign producers fell relative to domestic proàucers dur ing the 1955-71 per iod, that would significantly contr ibute to the i observed pattern of import erosion.