Steel imports down 12 percent; Finished import market share at 23 percent in 2018

Based on final Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 1,898,000 net tons (NT) of steel in December 2018, including 1,679,000 NT of finished steel (down 20.4 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively, vs. November final data).

For the full year of 2018, total and finished steel imports are 33,731,000 and 25,694,000 net tons (NT), down 11.5 percent and 13.1 percent, respectively, compared to full year 2017. Finished steel import market share was 19 percent in December and 23 percent for full year 2018.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in December compared to November were heavy structural shapes (up 20 percent) and line pipe (up 12 percent). Major products with significant increases for full year 2018 vs. full year 2017 include hot rolled sheets (up 22 percent) and plates in coils (up 15 percent).

In December the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from Germany (114,000 NT, down 9 percent from November final), Vietnam (100,000 NT, down 17 percent), South Korea (91,000 NT, down 53 percent), Japan (97,000 NT, down 16 percent) and Turkey (53,000 NT, down 10 percent). For full year 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,764,000 NT, down 26 percent vs. full year 2017), Japan (1,383,000 NT, down 8 percent), Germany (1,339,000 NT, down 5 percent), Turkey (1,153,000 NT, down 47 percent) and Vietnam (1,110,000 NT, up 48 percent).

Published in the April 2019 Edition