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Steel News February 27, 2017 11:30:00 AM

US Steel Imports Jumped Higher by 2.6% in January, says AISI data

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
The U.S. imported a total of 2,769,000 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2017. The preliminary steel imports by the country increased by nearly 2.6% during the month.

US Steel Imports Jumped Higher by 2.6% in January, says AISI data

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 2,769,218 net tons (NT) of steel in January 2017, including 2,284,726 net tons (NT) of finished steel (up 2.6% and 5.9% respectively, vs. December final data). When compared with the imports during Jan ’16, the total and finished steel imports were up by 4.6% and 2.5% respectively. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 27% in January 2017.

Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in January this year when compared to December last year are reinforcing bars (up 54%), standard pipe (up 45%), cut lengths plates (up 31%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 19%) and oil country goods (up 10%).

The preliminary imports of Reinforcing bars totaled 219,484 NT in January, significantly higher by 54.1% when compared with the final imports of 142,390 NT in December. Standard Pipe imports totaled 93,398 NT in January, higher by 45.3% when matched with 64,265 NT in December. The other product category that witnessed considerable jump in import volume was Cut Lengths Plates. The imports were up by 31.4% month-on-month from 47,432 NT in December to 62,338 NT in January this year.

On the other hand, the imports of Tin Plates witnessed sharp decline over the month in January 2017. The imports dropped by 33% from 94,237 NT in December to 63,171 NT in January. Line Pipes too witnessed 24.4% decline in import volume over the previous month. The imports totaled 95,852 NT in January this year as compared with the imports of 126,731 NT during the prior month. The imports of Plates in Coils have declined by nearly 14.4% from 122,418 NT to 104,743 NT.

When matched with the year before, imports of sheets and strip all other metallic coatings recorded 97.5% jump. The other products to record year-on-year increase in imports were oil country goods (+86.2%), reinforcing bars (+60.0%), hot-dipped galvanized sheet and strip (+42.4%) and cold rolled sheets (+41.8). Hot rolled sheets witnessed largest decline in year-on-year import volumes. The imports of hot rolled sheets tumbled by nearly 57% in Jan ’17 when compared with Jan ’16. The imports of Cut lengths plates (-39.6%), Plates in Coils (-34.5%) and Heavy structural shapes (-34.4%) too witnessed considerable decline during the month.

In January, the largest exporters of finished steel to the US were South Korea (311,000 NT, up 15% from December final), Turkey (306,000 NT, up 98%), Japan (136,000 NT, up 19%), Taiwan (110,000 NT, down 25%) and Vietnam (13,000 NT, up 80%).

The estimated annualized finished steel imports for the whole year 2017 from various offshore countries are as follows:- South Korea (3,735,000 NT, down 2.0% vs 2016), Turkey (3,670,000 NT, up 52%), Japan (1,631,000 NT, down 9.3%), Taiwan (1,325,000 NT, up 22.3%) and Vietnam (1,231,000 NT, up 28.2%) . The finished steel imports by South Korea had totaled 3,812,000 NT in 2016. The imports by other countries were as follows:- Turkey (2,416,000 NT), Japan (1,798,000 NT), Taiwan (1,083,000 NT) and Vietnam (960,000 NT).

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.

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