Imports Impacting IPSCO

Lisle, Illinois, 17 November 2000, IPSCO Inc. (NYSE/TSE:IPS) said today that price erosion due to dumped, unfairly priced imports of the types of steel mill products the company makes in the United States has reached, or is about to reach its maximum. "We expect that the recent trade case covering hot rolled coil imports from 11 countries will serve as a shot across the bows of all those foreign suppliers of dumped steel, hot rolled or otherwise," said Roger Phillips, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IPSCO Steel Inc. IPSCO Steel Inc. is the U.S. steelmaking
subsidiary of IPSCO Inc., of which Phillips is also the chief executive.

The prospect of being completely excluded from the American market because of high dumping duties will certainly slow down unfairly priced imports as opposed to fairly traded ones, Phillips claimed. "I am sure that those involved in trading dumped goods will be rethinking their commercial strategies," he said. In addition, the surge of imports has eroded prices to the point that the U.S. market is less attractive, he added.

(On 13 November IPSCO Steel Inc. and eight other steel companies filed an anti-dumping complaint alleging that 11 countries were dumping hot rolled coil in the United States. This case was filed in the face of a significant increase in imports from countries which had, until recently, not been major exporters to the USA. The impact of these imports has been devastating and has caused injury to all US hot rolled producers, including the nation's world class modern mini-mill
producers.)

IPSCO said that price erosion due to dumped imports had also impacted on its Canadian activities. Anti dumping duties are in place in Canada covering hot rolled sheet and plate from a number of countries. "In the past steel imports have ended up in Canada if American trade actions have deterred their entry to the U.S. We expect that Canadian producers will be forced to turn quickly to additional dumping case filings if, in what has become an established pattern, imports formerly aimed at the American market find a new home in Canada."

IPSCO said that it expected that its fourth quarter financial results would be more negatively impacted by the price erosion than the third quarter but that improved shipment levels of oil country tubular goods in Canada would more or less counterbalance the impact. Broadly speaking IPSCO is looking at a profit level for the fourth quarter similar to the third, and at this juncture the trend is expected to continue into the first quarter of next year, the company said. IPSCO cautioned, however, that although price levels appeared to have stabilized the market place remains somewhat volatile.

IPSCO also pointed out to those analysts following IPSCO earnings per share on a so-called "diluted" basis that the amount of theoretical earnings dilution due to its preferred shares is dependent on the closing price of its common shares at the end of each quarter. "To accurately predict IPSCO's fully diluted earnings per share you must not only predict our basic earnings accurately but also the closing price of our common shares. The theoretical dilution calculation assumes that each Cdn$25 preferred share is converted into approximately Cdn $25 worth of common shares," said Robert Stefaniuk, Vice President, IPSCO Enterprises Inc. "Thus even though the company may achieve the total dollar profit predicted, the diluted earnings per share result may be different than predicted because of an unexpected end-of-quarter share price," he concluded.

IPSCO produces hot rolled coil and discrete plate at Montpelier, Iowa, and Regina, Saskatchewan. Finished steel production for the first nine months of 2000 was 1,419,400 tons. A third steelworks, currently under construction at Mobile County, Alabama, is expected to commence production in the first quarter of 2001.

This news release contains forward looking information with respect to IPSCO's operations and beliefs. Actual results may differ from these forward looking statements due to numerous factors, including estimated time of completion of cases, potential markets for the materials produced, market forces in other countries, domestic markets, international exchange rates, domestic pricing of steel products, level of potential dumping duties, action by international steel producers and traders, effect of U.S. cases on Canadian markets, level of OCTG shipments in Canada, and IPSCO share prices. These and other factors are outlined in IPSCO's regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those on IPSCO's Annual Report for 1999, its MD&A and Form 40-F.

For Further Information Please Contact:
IPSCO Inc.
Kelly Brossart
Corporate Communications
Tel. 306-924-7475
Release 00-38

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