Analysis of the supply of and demand for stainless steel in the United States

A study conducted for the Division of Ferrous Metals of the US Bureau of Mines seeks to analyze the various factors affecting the supply of and demand for wrought stainless steel products in the US and to construct a dynamic model that would facilitate long-run policy analyses. The integrated specialty and carbon steel firms that melt, as well as process, stainless steel were considered to be the principal components of the domestic-supply sector. The demand for stainless steel mill products was estimated with an econometric model of apparent consumption in seven major end-use sectors and to the year 2000. The pricing policy of the domestic stainless steel industry was analyzed in detail, and its capacity to pass on to its customers the cost savings realized through economies of scale was estimated. Finally, an analysis of imports of stainless steel mill products was combined with the demand, supply, and pricing policy models to dynamically generate equilibrium prices and quantities between 1977 and 1985 under various assumed policy scenarios. 2 references, 5 figures, 2 tables.