Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,875,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2018, including 2,327,000 NT of finished steel (up 17.3 percent and 23.8 percent, respectively, vs. December final data). Total and finished steel imports are up 2.2 percent and down 0.1 percent, respectively, vs. the same period in 2017. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26 percent in January.
Key finished steel products with significant import increases in January compared to December include sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 129 percent), reinforcing bars (up 82 percent), oil country goods (up 78 percent), line pipe (up 44 percent), standard pipe (up 30 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 27 percent), hot rolled bars (up 22 percent), wire drawn (up 14 percent), mechanical tubing (up 13 percent), and plates in coils (up 11 percent).
In January, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were for South Korea (339,000 NT, up 77 percent from December final), Japan (141,000 NT, up 73 percent), Turkey (140,000 NT, up 141 percent), Taiwan (117,000 NT, up 188 percent) and Brazil (102,000 NT, up 6 percent).
Published in the April 2018 Edition