Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 1,553,000 net tons (NT) of steel in December 2019, including 1,347,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (down 0.5 percent and up 1.2 percent, respectively, vs. November final data).
For full year 2019 total and finished steel imports are 27,905,000 and 21,042,000 NT, down 17.3 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively, vs. 2018. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 15 percent in December and is estimated at 19 percent for full year 2019.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in December compared to November are plates in coils (up 41 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 27 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 22 percent) and cut lengths plates (up 18 percent).
In December the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (168,000 NT, down 11 percent from November final), Germany (83,000 NT, up 51 percent), Japan (67,000 NT, down 21 percent), The Netherlands (53,000 NT, down 24 percent) and China (26,000 NT, up 29 percent). For full year 2019, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,576,000 NT, down 7 percentvs. the same period in 2018), Japan (1,242,000 NT, down 10 percent), Germany (1,048,000 NT, down 22 percent), Taiwan (828,000 NT, down 23 percent) and Vietnam (663,000 NT, down 40 percent).
Published in the March 2020 Edition