Hot Rolled Sheet Imports Declined Substantially

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest report published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) suggests substantial decline in imports of finished steel products in 2019, compared with the prior year.

The product to report sharpest decline was Hot Rolled Sheets, whose yearly imports recorded a decline of 27.6% to 1.883 million net tons. The imports of this product had totalled 2.601 million net tons in 2018. Hot Rolled Bars recorded year-on-year decline by 26.5%, falling from 1.226 million net tons to 901,348 net tons. A decline of 26.2% was seen in Plates in Coils during 2019. The imports totalled 1.156 million net tons, as compared with 1.566 million net tons in 2018.

ALSO READ: AISI Recorded 17% Drop in Yearly Steel Imports

Almost all products saw heavy decline in imports during the last month of 2019. Reinforcing bar imports recorded largest decline, dropping almost 26% year-on-year from 61,516 net tons to 45,613 net tons. All Other Metalic Sheets and Strips recorded 25.2% year-on-year decline. The other product to witness significant decline in imports was Hot Rolled Bars, whose imports were down by almost 15%.

The finished steel products with notable import increase in Dec ’19, as compared with the prior month were plates in coils (up 41%), hot rolled sheets (up 27%) and cold rolled sheets (up 22%).