Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,577,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2016, including 2,217,000 NT of finished steel (up 10.0 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively, vs. December final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 2,577,000 and 2,217,000 NT, respectively, down 41 percent and 38 percent respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26 percent in January.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in January compared to December 2015 are oil country goods (up 107 percent), standard pipe (up 68 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 53 percent), line pipe (up 47 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 43 percent), plates in coils (up 25 percent) and wire drawn (up 12 percent).
In January, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from Turkey (244,000 NT, up 34 percent vs. December final), South Korea (241,000 NT, up 2 percent), Japan (188,000 NT, up 31 percent), Brazil (154,000 NT, up 124 percent) and Germany (121,000 NT, down 1
percent).
Published in the April 2016 Edition of American Recycler News