Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,745,000 net tons (NT) of steel in September 2016, including 2,108,000 NT of finished steel (down 10.2 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively, vs. August final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) through 9 months of 2016 total and finished steel imports are 24,773,000 and 19,776,000 net tons (NT), down 19.8 percent and 21.5 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26 percent in September.
A key finished steel product with a significant import increase in September compared to August was sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 13 percent). Reinforcing bars (up 12 percent) had a significant year-to-date (YTD) increase vs. the same period in 2015.
In September, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (283,000 NT, down 16 percent from August final), Turkey (159,000 NT, down 12 percent), Japan (149,000 NT, down 30 percent), Germany (110,000 NT, down 15 percent), Taiwan (103,000 NT, down 28 percent), China (98,000 NT, up 54 percent) and Vietnam (98,000 NT, down 22 percent).
For the first 9 months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,992,000 NT, down 24 percent vs. the same period in 2015), Turkey (1,853,000 NT, down 15 percent), Japan (1,428,000 NT, down 21 percent), Germany (941,000 NT, down 23 percent), Taiwan (755,000 NT, down 22 percent), China (676,000 NT, down 68 percent) and Vietnam (672,000 NT, up 391 percent).
Published in the December 2016 Edition of American Recycler News