AISI: US Steel Imports Soared 12% in July; Market Share touches 26%

ALBANY (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 3,170,000 net tons (NT) of steel in July 2016, including 2,416,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 12.4% and 6.5%, respectively, vs. June final data).

Year-to-date total and finished steel imports are 18,877,000 and 15,240,000 net tons (NT), respectively, down 25% and 26% respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Finished steel import market share was estimated at 26% in July and at 25% during the initial seven-month period of the year.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in July this year when compared to June are hot rolled sheets (up 48%), reinforcing bars (up 32%), oil country goods (up 26%), cut length plates (up 25%), plates in coils (up 18%) and line pipe (up 10%).

The preliminary imports of tin plates totaled 85,150 NT in July, marginally higher by 0.80% when compared with the final imports of 84,433 NT in June. Ingots, Billets and Slab imports totaled 752,561 NT in July, surging higher by 36.5% when matched with 551,257 NT in June. The other product category that witnessed considerable jump in import volume was hot rolled sheets. The imports were up by 48.1% month-on-month from 224,934 NT in June to 333,231 NT in July this year.

On the other hand, the imports of Heavy Structural Shapes witnessed sharp decline over the month in July 2016. The imports dropped by 32.8% from 99,649 NT in June to 66,948 NT in July. Standard Pipes too witnessed 31.2% decline in import volume over the previous month. The imports totaled 48,008 NT in July this year as compared with the imports of 69,748 NT during the previous month. The imports of Structural Pipe & Tubing dropped by 24.5% from 43,442 NT to 32,804 NT.

The key finished steel imports during the seven-month period from January to July this year were Ingots, Billets and Slabs (3,618,715 NT), Hot Rolled Sheets (1,841,182 NT) and Sheets and Strip Galvanized Hot Dipped (1,681,920 NT).

In July, the largest exporters of finished steel to the US were South Korea (427,000 NT, up 21% from June final), Turkey (301,000 NT, up 52%), Japan (195,000 NT, up 23%), Taiwan (116,000 NT, up 21%) and Germany (86,000 NT, down 32%).

For first seven months of 2016, the largest overseas suppliers of finished steel to the US were South Korea (2,370,000 NT, down 30%), Turkey (1,497,000 NT, down 20%), Japan (1,063,000 NT, down 25%), Germany (700,000 NT, down 28%) and Brazil (549,000 NT, down 30%).

The estimated annualized finished steel imports for the whole year 2016 from various offshore countries are as follows:- South Korea (4,064,000 NT, down 16.3% vs 2015), Turkey (2,567,000 NT, down 9.1%), Japan (1,822,000 NT, down 19.3%), Germany (1,515,000 NT, down 20.8%) and Brazil (1,437,000 NT, down 34.6%).

AISI serves as the voice of the North American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI also plays a lead role in the development and application of new steels and steelmaking technology. AISI is comprised of 19 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry.