Imports of Finished Steel to Drop 13% in 2019

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) sees notable decline in imports of finished steel by the country during the current year. The forecast by the U.S. Census Bureau is based on the year-to-date steel import data by the country.

The U.S. is likely to see 12.5% decline in finished steel imports in the entire year 2019. As per estimates, the full-year finished imports are likely to total 22.480 million net tons in 2019. The U.S. finished imports had totalled 25.694 million net tons in the whole of 2018. Meantime, the total steel imports are likely to drop by 10.7% from 33.731 million net tons in 2018 to 30.116 million net tons during this year, AISI said.

The AISI foresees modest to sharp decline in import volumes of majority of steel mill products during the year. The hot rolled sheets imports are likely to decline the most, falling by nearly 27% from the previous year to total 1.903 million net tons. The imports of plates in coils and cold rolled sheets are likely to drop by 23.5% and 21.6% respectively.

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Only three products- Reinforcing bars, Tin Plates and Heavy Structural Shapes- are likely to report increased volume of imports in 2019, compared with the previous year. The imports of Heavy Structural Shapes are forecast to see the biggest jump, with import volumes surging higher by 7.6%. Reinforcing bars and Tin plates imports are expected to grow by 6.7% and 6.6% respectively.

The imports of finished steel mill products from Brazil are likely to surge higher by almost 26% in 2019. On the contrary, imports from Vietnam and Germany are likely to decline by nearly 29% and 17% respectively.