Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,264,000 net tons (NT) of steel in October 2018, including 1,991,000 NT of finished steel (up 44.2 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, vs. September final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) through 10 months of 2018, total and finished steel imports are 29,436,000 and 22,082,000 NT, down 10.6 percent and 13.4 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2017.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in October compared to September were hot rolled bars (up 55 percent), line pipe (up 37 percent), mechanical tubing (up 23 percent), tin plate (up 13 percent) and wire drawn (up 13 percent). Major products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2017 include hot rolled sheets (up 23 percent) and plates in coils (up 19 percent).
In October, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (183,000 NT, down 3 percent from September final), Vietnam (115,000 NT, up 53 percent), Germany (113,000 NT, down 3 percent), and Japan (105,000 NT, up 17 percent). For the first 10 months of 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,479,000 NT, down 26 percent vs. the same period in 2017), Japan (1,169,000 NT, down 11 percent), Germany (1,100,000 NT, down 5 percent), Turkey (1,041,000 NT, down 50 percent) and Taiwan (913,000 NT, down 21 percent).
Published in the January 2019 Edition
