Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 3,119,000 net tons (NT) of steel in October 2017, including 2,493,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (unchanged and down 0.4 percent, respectively, vs. September final data). Year-to-date (YTD) through ten months of 2017, total and finished steel imports are 32,850,000 and 25,449,000 NT, up 19.4 percent and 15.4 percent respectively, vs. the same period in 2016. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 27 percent in October and is estimated at 28 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with significant import increases in October compared to September include wire rods (up 32 percent), cut lengths plates (up 27 percent), plates in coils (up 23 percent) and standard pipe (up 10 percent). Major products with significant YTD increases vs. the same period in 2016 include oil country goods (up 231 percent), line pipe (up 68 percent), standard pipe (up 44 percent), mechanical tubing (up 34 percent), cold rolled (up 26 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 25 percent), hot rolled bars (up 21 percent) and sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 17 percent).
In October, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (372,000 NT, up 14 percent from September final), Germany (156,000 NT, up 2 percent), Taiwan (122,000 NT, up 2 percent), Turkey (112,000 NT, down 7 percent) and Brazil (89,000 NT, down 19 percent). For the first ten months of 2017, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,328,000 NT, up 2 percent vs. the same period in 2016), Turkey (2,065,000 NT, down 1 percent), Japan (1,307,000 NT, down 17 percent), Germany (1,160,000 NT, up 14 percent) and Taiwan (1,148,000 NT, up 35 percent).
Published in the December 2017 Edition