Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,682,000 net tons (NT) of steel in October 2016, including 2,225,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (down 3.4 percent and up 4.7 percent, respectively, vs. September final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) through ten months of 2016 total and finished steel imports are 27,486,000 and 22,017,000 NT, down 19.0 percent and 19.8 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2016 are 33.0 and 26.4 million NT, down 15.0 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively, vs. 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26 percent in October and is estimated at 25 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with significant import increases in October compared to September include oil country goods (up 79 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 68 percent), line pipe (up 30 percent), hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip (up 17 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 17 percent).
In October, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (272,000 NT, down 4 percent from September final), Turkey (222,000 NT, up 40 percent), Japan (143,000 NT, down 9 percent), Vietnam (105,000 NT, up 6 percent) and Taiwan (95,000 NT, down 8 percent). For the first ten months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,265,000 NT, down 24 percent vs. the same period in 2015), Turkey (2,076,000 NT, down 17 percent), Japan (1,579,000 NT, down 19 percent), Germany (1,019,000 NT, down 22 percent) and Taiwan (850,000 NT, down 23 percent).
Published in the January 2017 Edition of American Recycler News