Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,773,000 net tons (NT) of steel in April 2020, including 1,309,000 NT of finished steel (up 58.2 percent and down 13.5 percent, respectively, vs. March final data).
Through the first four months of 2020, total and finished steel imports are 9,185,000 and 5,819,000 NT, down 20.3 percent and 28.2 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2019. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2020 would be 27.6 and 17.5 million NT, down 1.4 percent and 17.1 percent, respectively, vs. 2019. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 21 percent in April and is estimated at 18 percent over the first four months of 2020.
Key finished steel products with a significant increase in imports in April compared to March are heavy structural shapes (up 57 percent), reinforcing bars (up 54 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 31 percent) and tin plate (up 14 percent).
In April the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (161,000 NT, down 22 percent from March final), Brazil (69,000 NT, up 388 percent), Japan (68,000 NT, up 21 percent), Germany (64,000 NT, down 7 percent) and Turkey (53,000 NT, up 62 percent). For the first four months of 2020, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (708,000 NT, down 29 percent vs. the same period in 2019), Japan (270,000 NT, down 45 percent), Germany (233,000 NT, down 49 percent), Brazil (210,000 NT, down 19 percent) and Turkey (209,000 NT, up 50 percent).
Published in the July 2020 Edition