The acquisition case of the American Steel Company has far-reaching implications and may shake the foundation of the American manufacturing industry.
If Cleveland Cliffs successfully acquires US Steel, the US steel industry, which is already concentrated among the four major steel manufacturers, will further consolidate. Some downstream manufacturers have expressed that US steel is already the most expensive in the world, and further consolidation in the steel industry will give producers more leverage to increase prices, thereby putting greater pressure on downstream industries.
Although U.S. Steel, a symbol of the American Industrial Revolution, rejected a takeover offer from Cleveland Cliffs over the weekend, there are concerns that a takeover of U.S. Steel would shake the foundations of U.S. manufacturing, particularly by increasing the market concentration of steel needed for cars, food cans and electric vehicle batteries. Analysts say demand for steel in the United States will continue to increase in the next few years due to iterations of the U.S. transportation and energy infrastructure, large manufacturing plants and increased spending in the electric vehicle industry. U.S. steel production has been concentrated in four major suppliers-U.S. Steel, Cleveland Cliffs, Nucor Steel, and Steel Dynamics. Cleveland Cliffs is the largest steel plate producer in the United States, and U.S. Steel is the second largest. Some downstream manufacturers say that steel in the United States is already the most expensive in the world, and further consolidation in the steel industry will give producers more leverage to raise prices, thus putting more pressure on the downstream industry. Some furniture companies said that the current U.S. steel market is already very concentrated, and it is difficult for companies to obtain much cheaper foreign steel. Lourenco Goncalves, chief executive of Cleveland Cliffs', said the new company will be a lower-cost and more innovative steel supplier to downstream manufacturing companies. Cleveland Cliffs said Sunday it made an offer to buy Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel for $35 a share in cash and stock, but U.S. Steel rejected the offer, calling it ''unreasonable ". U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said in a letter to Cleveland Clips CEO Lourenco Goncalves released on Sunday:> At this time, we cannot determine whether your unsolicited acquisition proposal correctly reflects our full and fair value. For the above reasons, our Board of Directors has no choice but to reject your unreasonable acquisition proposal. Buying U.S. Steel would make Cleveland Cliffs the largest steel company in North America, with annual production of nearly 26 million tons and sales of nearly $40 billion. According to the quotation submitted by Cleveland Cliffs to U.S. Steel, if the merger is successful, Nucor Steel, the largest steelmaker in the United States, will fall to second place with an output of 18 million tons. Analysts said that if the merger is successful, the new company will produce more than 50% of the steel consumed in the United States every year. The potential merger of Cleveland Cliffs in the automotive steel market could be a focal point for downstream players and antitrust regulators. Cleveland Cliffs is already the largest supplier of automotive steel plates in the United States. The auto industry is also the largest customer for U.S. Steel, accounting for more than 20 percent of its sales last year. S. Steel and Cleveland Cleaves most of their steel is produced from iron ore melted in blast furnaces. This is a production process for producing high-quality steel plates for automobile fenders, hoods and other exterior parts of vehicles. If Cleveland Cliffs buys U.S. Steel, it will become the only U.S. steel company to use blast furnaces. As a result, Cleveland Cliffs will also become the only domestic supplier of tinplate for food cans. In addition, if the two sides merge, the new company will become the only iron ore supplier in the United States and will control the supply of iron ore in the United States.