BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana

The nation's steel imports grew to 35.7 million tons in 2004, a 54.5 percent increase from the previous year.

Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., said he's concerned about the spike in import levels.

"That's why it's vital to extend and enhance the steel monitoring import program,' he said Thursday.

Last month, total and finished steel imports rose 62.7 percent and 77.3 percent, respectively, above December 2003, with the percentage gain for finished steel imports more than three times the 15.9 percent increase in steel consumption, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.

As a result, finished steel import market share rose to 21.2 percent from 16.0 percent for the month, it said.

Thus, institute officials maintain that strict enforcement of trade laws and market-driven demand should dictate steel production, not increases in state-supported steel capacity.

"Imports in 2004 were up dramatically, and there is sufficient availability of steel in the U.S. market," said U.S. Steel Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Surma, who was recently elected the steel institute's president.

"The industry has taken a lot of positive steps as market conditions have improved, but much remains to be done to complete needed investments and keep the momentum going."

High levels of steel imports in recent years, such as the 41.5 million tons imported in 1998, were a major factor in the domestic steel industry's 1999-2003 decline. The imports, often priced below the cost of production, helped put more than 35 steel companies into bankruptcy and forced the restructuring of the U.S. steel industry, the institute says.

Visclosky said the country's steel-import monitoring system is the best option to provide information and steel import data to policy makers and market participants. The program was established in 2002 as part of the administration's Steel Safeguard initiative as a method of auditing the domestic steel market to prevent damaging import surges.

Visclosky, Rep. Phil English, R-Pa., and other members of the nonpartisan Congressional Steel Caucus are working to stop the monitoring program from expiring in March.

The program has received unanimous support from domestic steel producers, thus continuing it is a priority for the steel industry at both a national and local level, Visclosky said.

In a joint letter to Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, Visclosky and English state the import monitoring program should be permanent, "as it is vital today as it was while the steel safeguard (Section 201 tariffs) was in place.'

It is vital to the stability of the U.S. steel market, Visclosky says in a new release.

"The steel import monitoring program proved an invaluable tool while the steel safeguard was active; enabling government and industry to identify surges or spikes from certain trading partners wishing to circumvent the President's safeguard order,' he states.

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