US Preliminary Steel Imports surged 5% in July

By  Paul Ploumis 26 Aug 2015  Last updated at 04:33:10 GMT

The U.S. imported a total of 3,243,000 net tons (NT) of steel in July 2015. The preliminary steel imports by the country surged 5% during the month.

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 3,243,000 net tons (NT) of steel in July 2015, including 2,578,000net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 4.6% and 3.7%, respectively, vs. June final data).

Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 24,964,000 and 20,440,000 net tons (NT), respectively, no change and up 10% respectively, vs. the same period in 2014. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 27% in July.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in July compared to June are reinforcing bars (up 57%) and plates in coils (up 29%).

The major products that recorded significant rise in import volumes year-to-date in comparison with the similar seven-month period in 2014 are line pipe (up 55%), reinforcing bars (up 51%), standard pipe (up 33%), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 22%), tin plate (up 17%), plates in coils (up 16%), cold rolled sheets (up 14%), heavy structural shapes (up 13%) and cut lengths plates (up 12%).

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In July, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (307,000 NT, down 3% vs. June final), China (283,000 NT, up 49%), Turkey (229,000 NT, up 42%), Japan (179,000 NT, down 2%), Germany (145,000 NT, down 3%).

The largest offshore suppliers for the initial seven-month period of the year were South Korea (3,367,000 NT, up 6%), Turkey (1,837,000 NT, up 68%), China (1,805,000 NT, up 1%), Japan (1,410,000 NT, up 18%) and Germany (968,000 NT, up 46%)

Courtesy: American Iron and Steel Institute