Because a major AISI goal is to increase the market for North American steel, it is appropriate to expand the quantitative analysis of apparent supply in North America to include product detail. Of equal value is the analysis of key economic and consuming market indicators in Canada, Mexico and the United States. It is critical that these market programs have a more complete understanding of the market data and statistics and the factors that influence its measurement from year to year. AISI's Market Development programs target those market sectors with the greatest growth potential. Member steel companies then have the opportunity to exploit this market growth by increasing their shipments and increasing market share.
Apparent supply is the sum of domestic shipments and imports, less exports.
To calculate apparent steel supply for North America, it is not possible to simply aggregate the component data for the three countries. Trade within North America must be treated as domestic shipments. Nuances among product definitions and data collection in the three countries will need to be harmonized. Extending historical trend data with published forecasts from outside sources will provide AISI's Market Development team with a valuable tool for business planning, and will help individual member companies' commercial planning efforts as well. The commercial, economic and research expertise that comes together through the membership of the Committee on Commercial Research will provide the direction needed to achieve the project goals.