US Preliminary Steel Imports Declined 2% in Mar '14 : AISI

WASHINGTON (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 3,219,000 net tons (NT) of steel in March, including 2,425,000 net tons (NT)of finished steel (down 2.0% and up 6.6%, respectively, vs. February final data). Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 9,710,000 and 7,141,000 net tons (NT), respectively, up 26% and 17% respectively, vs. 2013. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2014 would be 38.8 and 28.6 million NT, up 21% and 15%respectively vs. 2013.Finished steel import market share was an estimated 25% in March and is estimated at 25% YTD

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in March compared to February are reinforcing bar (up 66%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 56%), wire rods (up 35%), tin plate (up 31%), cold rolled sheets (up 27%) and cut lengths plates (up 18%). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include wire rods (up 91%), plates in coils (up 86%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 43%), hot rolled sheets (up 41%), cold rolled sheets (up 33%), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 31%), reinforcing bar (up 28%), cut lengths plates (up 20%), and oil country goods (up 19%).

In March,the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea(345,000 NT, down 11% vs. February final), China(200,000NT,up 13%), Japan(170,000 NT, up 10%),Turkey(169,000 NT, up 70%) and Russia(99,000NT, down 5%). For three months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,166,000 NT, up 21%), China(567,000 NT,up 27%), Japan(497,000 NT, up 11%), Turkey (469,000 NT, up 16%) and India(300,000 NT, up 64%).