Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,584,000 net tons (NT) of steel in February 2015, including 2,832,000 NT of finished steel (down 18.4 percent and 20.7 percent, respectively, vs. January final data).
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in February compared to January are heavy structural shapes (up 46 percent), tin plate (up 18 percent) and sheet and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 12 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include cut lengths plates (up 120 percent), line pipe (up 104 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 83 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 62 percent), standard pipe (up 55 percent), tin plate (up 42 percent), plates in coils (up 40 percent), oil country goods (up 40 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 30 percent) and sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 21 percent).
In February, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (481,000 NT, down 43 percent vs. January final), China (265,000 NT, up 34 percent), Turkey (235,000 NT, down 21 percent), Japan (211,000 NT, down 13 percent) and Germany (138,000 NT, down 10 percent). For two months of 2015, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,318,000 NT, up 60 percent), Turkey (533,000 NT, up 78 percent), China (462,000 NT, up 26 percent), Japan (452,000 NT, up 38 percent) and Brazil (297,000 NT, up 271 percent).
Published in the May 2015 Edition of American Recycler News