US Preliminary Steel Imports Increased 13% in March

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 2,569,000 net tons (NT) of steel in March 2016, including 2,097,000net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 12.9% and down 0.1%, respectively, vs. February final data).

Year-to-date total and finished steel imports are 7,493,000 and 6,424,000 net tons (NT), respectively, down 36% and 34% respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Finished steel import market share was estimated at 24% in March.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in March this year when compared to February are reinforcing bars (up 35%), sheet and strip all other metallic coatings (up 24%), cut lengths plates (up 21%) and wire drawn (up 11%).

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In March, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (278,000 NT, down 26% from February Final), Turkey (276,000 NT, up 33%), Japan (148,000 NT, up 30%), Brazil (72,000 NT, up 23%) and Germany (72,000 NT, down 11%).

For three months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (896,000 NT, down 52%), Turkey (729,000 NT, down 27%), Japan ( 451,000 NT, down 29%), Brazil ( 285,000 NT, down 27%) and Germany (274,000 NT, down 35%).

 Courtesy: American Iron and Steel Institute