Author: Paul Ploumis26 Feb 2015 Last updated at 00:33:40 GMT

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that the U.S. imported a total of 4,250 ,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2015, including 3,429,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 16.8% and 15.9%, respectively, vs. December final data).

Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 4,250,000 and 3,429,000 net tons (NT), respectively, up 33% and 40% respectively, vs. the same period in 2014. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 32% in January.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in January compared to December 2014are sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 110%), oil country goods (up 64%), hot rolled sheets (up 39%), standard pipe (up 36%) and reinforcing bars (up 19%).

In January, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea(836,000 NT, up 100% vs. December final), Turkey(275,000 NT,up 69%), Japan(211,000 NT, up 14%),China(198,000 NT, down 10%) and Brazil(187,000 NT, up 77%).

Courtesy: American Iron and Steel Institute