Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,249,000 net tons (NT) of steel in September 2018, including 1,854,000 NT of finished steel (down 25.9 percent and 8.6 percent, respectively, vs. August final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) through nine months of 2018, total and finished steel imports are 26,158,000 and 20,079,000 NT, down 12.0 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2017.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in September compared to August were standard pipe (up 26 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 25 percent), and sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 23 percent). Major products with significant year to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2017 include hot rolled sheets (up 21 percent) and plates in coils (up 21 percent).
In September, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (189,000 NT, up 9 percent from August final), Turkey (133,000 NT, up 12 percent), Germany (117,000 NT, up 4 percent), Taiwan (105,000 NT, up 29 percent) and Japan (90,000 NT, down 11 percent). For the first nine months of 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,295,000 NT, down 22 percent vs. the same period in 2017), Japan (1,064,000 NT, down 14 percent), Germany (987,000 NT, down 2 percent), Turkey (973,000 NT, down 50 percent) and Taiwan (845,000 NT, down 18 percent).
Published in the December 2018 Edition