Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,049,000 net tons (NT) of steel in June 2015, including 2,458,000 NT of finished steel (down 10.3 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively, vs. May final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 21,670,000 and 17,833,000 NT, respectively, up 3 percent and 14 percent respectively, vs. the same period in 2014.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in June compared to May are heavy structural shapes (up 32 percent) and wire rods (up 11 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include line pipe (up 66 percent), standard pipe (up 39 percent), reinforcing bars (up 36 percent), plates in coils (up 27 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 26 percent), tin plate (up 24 percent), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 22 percent), cut lengths plates (up 20 percent) and cold rolled sheets (up 16 percent).
In June, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (311,000 NT, down 13 percent vs. May final), China (190,000 NT, down 37 percent), Japan (181,000 NT, down 3 percent), Germany (147,000 NT, up 12 percent) and Turkey (142,000 NT, down 36 percent).
For 6 months of 2015, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,056,000 NT, up 17 percent), Turkey (1,589,000 NT, up 65 percent), China (1,521,000 NT, no change), Japan (1,229,000 NT, up 24 percent) and Germany (821,000 NT, up 41 percent).
Published in the September 2015 Edition of American Recycler News
