Finished Steel Imports by the U.S. Likely to Witness 9.4% Decline in 2018

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The estimates provided by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) indicates that annualized total and finished steel imports by the country are likely to drop by 8.5% and 9.4% respectively in 2018, when compared with the prior year. The finished steel imports from Turkey are likely to decline the most, falling by nearly 41% year-on-year. The projections are based on the available steel import data for the initial three quarters of the current year.

The AISI foresees annualized total steel imports at 34.877 million net tons (Mt) in 2018, notably down by 8.5% upon comparison with the previous year. The country’s steel imports had totaled 38.126 Mt in 2017. Also, finished steel imports are likely to decline from 29.561 Mt in 2017 to 26.772 Mt in 2018.

The imports from Turkey are likely to report heavy decline of 40.8% from the previous year. The annualized imports of finished steel mill products from Turkey are likely to collapse from 2.191 Mt to 1.297 Mt. AISI also foresees 18.4% decline in imports from South Korea. On the other hand, the U.S finished steel imports from Vietnam are projected to witness nearly 38% jump over the previous year.

The AISI predicts 27.5% year-on-year decline in U.S. imports of wire rods in 2018. The other steel mill products to see substantial drop in imports are Heavy Structural Shapes (-24.6%) and Cold Rolled Sheets (-20.8%). Meantime, the imports of Hot Rolled Sheets are expected to surge higher by 23.2% over the previous year.