The Indian Tata Steel, which also owns the blast furnaces in IJmuiden, is trying to sell more steel in the Middle East and Latin America. According to CEO T.V. Narendran, this is due to the high American import duties.
The company is looking at “other markets where there is a need for high-quality steel and where we are not affected by these kinds of duties,” Narendran said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg Television. Tata Steel’s concerns about American duties were also apparent during the presentation of the quarterly figures on Wednesday.
To become less dependent on the United States, Tata Steel is now trying to sell its steel in regions such as the Middle East and Latin America. This “cannot be done overnight,” says the CEO. Once that succeeds, the company result will depend less on American export.
Narendran is responding to the duties imposed by American president Donald Trump. American companies have to pay 50 percent more for steel from the European Union, including Dutch steel from IJmuiden. Therefore, American companies may choose their own steel more quickly and leave foreign steel untouched.
The steel that Tata Steel sells to the US from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom accounts for approximately one-fifth of the total profit. For steel from the UK, Americans now have to pay an extra 25 percent.
The duties also entail risks for the US, Narendran warned. “If companies find new customers, they may be less likely to return to their old customers.” That would mean that Tata Steel, with its new customers, is less dependent on the US for its profit.