By ELLEN READ
Steel imports are to be monitored because the New Zealand industry fears that foreign stocks will be dumped here in response to the United States' imposition of steel tariffs in March.
Other countries are increasing protection in their own markets and steel leaders here expect that supplies
will be diverted to nations such as New Zealand with low levels of protection.
They say this will damage the local industry.
"There have been some early indications of increases in steel coming into the country," said NZ Steel president Cyril Benjamin.
In world terms, the New Zealand steel industry is very small, making it particularly vulnerable to a surge in imports.
Details of the monitoring system will be worked out in the next few weeks.
One of the first tasks will be to determine how much steel New Zealand imports, what type and where from.
The Engineers Union has expressed concern that increased imports could lead to job losses, not only in steel but also in industries and communities the industry supports.
"They quite reasonably question why New Zealand jobs should be at risk from action taken in other countriesto counter the US tariffs," said theCommerce Minister, Paul Swain.
New Zealand has two steel producers, NZ Steel and Pacific Steel, which between them employ about 1600 people.
In March the United States imposed tariffs of up to 30 per cent on steel imports, claiming they were needed to safeguard its domestic steel industry from serious injury.
Many other countries responded by taking action against steel imports to protect their own industries.
The EU, China and Canada initiated safeguard investigations and countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia increased their tariffs on steel.
