AISI Reports 34% Decline in Aug '19 Steel Imports

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that the total steel imports by the U.S. totalled nearly 2 million net tons in August this year. This is based on the monthly imports data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The imports nosedived by 34%, compared with the July 2019 final imports, which had totalled 3.030 million net tons.

The finished steel imports in August 2019 totalled 1.783 million net tons, which is down by 3.4% upon comparison with the final imports of 1.845 million net tons in the prior month. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 19% during the month.

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Through the initial eight-month period of the current year, the country’s total and finished steel imports totalled 20.688 million net tons and 15.321 million net tons respectively. The year-to-date imports of total and finished steel reported sharp declines by 13.6% and 15.9% respectively, over the previous year. The finished steel market share was estimated at over 20% during the first eight months of the year.

The largest offshore suppliers of finished steel in August were South Korea, Japan and Germany. The above countries topped the largest supplier list during Jan-Aug ’19 as well, AISI report said.

Ingots and Billets and Slabs recorded a decline in monthly imports by nearly 82% in Aug ’19. Cut length plates and Plates in coils too witnessed drastic decline in import volumes. On the other hand, hot rolled sheet and cold rolled sheet imports surged higher by nearly 10% and 7% respectively.