Steel imports increase by 17 percent in January

Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 4,250,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2015, including 3,429,000 NT of finished steel (up 16.8 percent and 15.9 percent, respectively, versus December final data).

Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 4,250,000 and 3,429,000 NT, respectively, up 33 percent and 40 percent respectively, versus the same period in 2014. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 32 percent in January.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in January compared to December 2014 are sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 110 percent), oil country goods (up 64 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 39 percent), standard pipe (up 36 percent) and reinforcing bars (up 19 percent).

In January, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (836,000 NT, up 100 percent vs. December final), Turkey (275,000 NT, up 69 percent), Japan (211,000 NT, up 14 percent), China (198,000 NT, down 10 percent) and Brazil (187,000 NT, up 77 percent).

Published in the April 2015 Edition of American Recycler News