WASHINGTON October steel imports increase by 8 percent

For the year, steel imports are up.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- American companies imported 2.7 million metric tons of steel in October, down slightly from 2.9 million tons the month before, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.
Last month's figures reflect an 8 percent increase from the 2.5 million metric tons imported in October 2001.
So far this year, an estimated 24.5 million tons have been imported to domestic companies -- a 1.8 million-ton increase from year-to-date levels in 2001. At that rate, said American Iron and Steel Institute spokeswoman Nancy Gravatt, import totals could reach as high as 29 million tons -- making it the fourth highest year of steel imports in U.S. history.
Last year, companies imported 27.3 million tons of steel.
"We would still be concerned about the overall level for the year," Gravatt said. "We hope that the Bush administration would be looking really carefully at any exclusion requests."
Effect of tariffs
Imports have been fluctuating this year since the Bush administration imposed tariffs of 8 percent to 30 percent for three years on certain kinds of imported steel. The penalties took effect March 20 and were aimed at limiting low-priced imports to give the battered domestic industry time to reorganize and become more competitive.
Domestic steel companies are keeping a wary eye on imports as the federal government prepares to accept new applications for exclusions to the March tariffs. In August, the Bush administration granted 178 exclusions to the tariffs, bringing the total to 727.
The filing deadline for the next round of exclusion applications is Dec. 10.
The American Institute for International Steel, however, said the yearly increase in steel imports was the result in a spike in semifinished steel products from foreign producers, which the domestic steel industry uses to supplement their own production lines.
The AIIS, a Washington-based trade association, opposed the tariffs.
A spokesman for the United Steelworkers union did not immediately return calls for comment.