U.S. Steel Shipments Surged 6.5% in Dec '18

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade data published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) suggests notable surge in steel shipments by the U.S. mills during December 2018, when compared with the same month a year before. On the contrary, the shipments during Nov ’18 declined marginally upon comparison with the prior month.

The AISI data suggests that the U.S. steel mills shipped 7.804 million net tons of material in December last year. This is significantly higher by 6.5% when compared with the previous year. The U.S. steel mill shipments had totaled only 7.328 million net tons in December 2017. A comparison with the prior month shows that the shipments were down marginally by 0.4% from the 7.832 million net tons shipped during November 2018.

The November shipments indicate significant decline in shipment volumes of hot dipped galvanized sheets and strip, whose shipments slumped by 6% over the previous month. Also, the shipments of cold rolled sheets too recorded notable decline, falling by 6%. On the other hand, hot rolled sheet shipments edged higher by 2%.

The cumulative steel shipments during the entire year 2018 totaled 95.280 million net tons. This is higher by 4.8% when compared with the shipments during 2017. AISI data states that U.S. steel mill shipments had totaled 90.887 million net tons in 2017.

The steel imports by the country had registered notable decline of nearly 11% during the initial eleven months of the previous year. The total steel imports stood at 31.384 million net tons, out of which 24.016 million net tons accounted for finished steel.