Testing times lie ahead for steel firms

Manufacturing glut at home prompts steel mills to look abroad as profit margins shrink rapidly, reports Bloomberg.

Tangshan Donghua Steel Enterprise Group Co was so eager for new customers overseas that it turned to cold-calling manufacturers and tried hawking metal on the e-commerce website run by Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd.

A glut in the world's biggest steel-making country means that prices for basic products like rebar used in construction have collapsed, so Tangshan Donghua is targeting buyers outside China who pay more. The company now ships as much as 40 percent of its output everywhere from Southeast Asia to South America to the Middle East, and wants to expand exports even further.