Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,170,000 net tons (NT) of steel in July 2016, including 2,416,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 12.4 percent and 6.5 percent, respectively, vs. June final data).
Year -to-date (YTD) through seven months of 2016, total and finished steel imports are 18,877,000 and 15,240,000 NT, down 25 percent and 26 percent, respectively vs. the same period in 2015.
Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2016 would be 32.4 and 26.1 million NT, both down 17 percent vs. 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26 percent in July and is estimated at 25 percent YTD.
Key finished steel product s with a significant import increase in July compared to June are hot rolled sheets (up 48 percent), reinforcing bars (up 32 percent), oil country goods (up 26 percent), cut lengths plates (up 25 percent), plates in coils (up 18 percent) and line pipe (up 10 percent).
In July, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (427,000 NT, up 21 percent from June final), Turkey (301,000 NT, up 52 percent), Japan (195,000 NT, up 23 percent), Taiwan (116,000 NT, up 21 percent) and Germany (86,000 NT, down 32 percent). For the first 7 months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,370,000 NT, down 30 percent), Turkey (1,497,000 NT, down 20 percent), Japan (1,063,000 NT, down 25 percent), Germany (700,000 NT, down 28 percent) and Brazil (549,000 NT, down 30 percent).
Published in the October 2016 Edition of American Recycler News