U.S. YTD Finished Steel Imports Dipped 16%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that the total steel imports by the U.S. were approximately 1.896 million net tons in September this year. This is based on the monthly imports data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The imports were down by 6%, compared with the August 2019 final imports, which had totalled 2.022 million net tons.

The finished steel imports in September 2019 totalled 1.528 million net tons, which is down by 14.8% upon comparison with the final finished steel imports of 1.794 million net tons in the prior month. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 18% during the month of September.

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Through the first nine months of the current year, the country’s total and finished steel imports totalled 22.587 million net tons and 16.860 million net tons respectively. The year-to-date imports of total and finished steel reported sharp declines by 13.7% and 16.1% respectively, over the previous year. The finished steel market share was estimated at over 20% during the first nine months of 2019.

The largest offshore suppliers of finished steel in September were South Korea, Japan and Germany. The above countries emerged as the top three largest suppliers during the year-to-date period as well, AISI report said.

Imports of Tin Plates recorded highest decline of 26.3% in Sep ’19, compared with the prior month. Line Pipes and Heavy Structural Shapes too witnessed substantial decline in import volumes. On the other hand, Ingots and Billets and Slabs imports surged higher by almost 62% year-on-year.