Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,769,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2017, including 2,285,000 NT of finished steel (up 2.6 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, vs. December final data).
Total and finished steel imports are up 4.6 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 27 percent in January.
Key finished steel products with significant import increases in January compared to December include reinforcing bars (up 54 percent), standard pipe (up 45 percent), cut lengths plates (up 31 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 19 percent) and oil country goods (up 10 percent).
In January, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (311,000 NT, up 15 percent from December final), Turkey (306,000 NT, up 98 percent), Japan (136,000 NT, up 19 percent), Taiwan (110,000 NT, down 25 percent) and Vietnam (103,000 NT, up 80 percent).
Published in the April 2017 Edition of American Recycler News