US Preliminary Steel Imports Increased 5% in October

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

November 26, 2015 01:47:48 AM

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 2,987,000 net tons (NT) of steel in October 2015, including 2,258,000net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 5.4% and 1.4%, respectively, vs. September final data).

Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 33,889,000 and 27,438,000 net tons (NT), respectively, down 8% and 2% respectively, vs. the same period in 2014. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 26% in October.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in October compared to September are reinforcing bars (up 97%), sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 46%), heavy structural shapes (up 33%), wire rods (up 29%),and hot rolled sheets (up 24%).

The major products that recorded significant rise in import volumes year-to-date in comparison with the similar ten-month period in 2014 are reinforcing bar (up 47%), line pipe (up 25%), standard pipe (up 20%), tin plate (up 12%) and wire drawn (up 10%).

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In October, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (353,000NT, up 27% vs. September final), Turkey (287,000 NT, up 90%), Brazil (143,000 NT, up 30%), Japan(134,000 NT, down 29%) and Taiwan(130,000NT, up 94%).

The largest offshore suppliers for the initial ten-month period of the year were South Korea (4,302,000 NT, down 6%), Turkey (2,477,000 NT, up 36%), China (2,173,000 NT, down 20%), Japan (1,947,000 NT, up 10%) and Germany (1,302,000 NT, up 31%).

Courtesy: American Iron and Steel Institute