Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,010,000 net tons (NT) of steel in July 2021, including 2,060,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 2.8 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively, vs. June final data). Through the first 7 months of 2021, total and finished steel imports are 17,729,000 and 12,086,000 NT, up 17.4 percent and 20.6 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2020.
Key finished steel products with a significant increase in imports in July compared to June are sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 48 percent), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 29 percent), mechanical tubing (up 25 percent), tin plate (up 16 percent) and heavy structural shapes (up 14 percent). Products with a significant year-to-date (YTD) increase vs. the same period in 2020 were hot rolled sheets (up 76 percent), plates in coils (up 52 percent), cut lengths plates (up 44 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 41 percent), wire rods (up 40 percent), wire drawn (up 22 percent), hot rolled bars (up 17 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 16 percent) and tin plate (up 13 percent).
In July, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (293,000 NT, up 7 percent from June final), Vietnam (101,000 NT, up 165 percent), Taiwan (77,000 NT, down 8 percent), Germany (70,000 NT, down 27 percent) and Japan (67,000 NT, down 44 percent). For the first seven months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,624,000 NT, up 27 percent vs. the same period in 2020), Japan (590,000 NT, up 22 percent), Turkey (485,000 NT, up 29 percent), Germany (480,000 NT, up 14 percent) and Taiwan (434,000 NT, up 17 percent).
Published in the October 2021 Edition
