Year-To-Date Steel Imports Recorded Notable Surge

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that the total steel imports by the U.S. stood at 2.897 million net tons in the month of June this year. This is based on the most recent monthly imports statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The imports were up by almost 14.8%, compared with the May 2021 final imports.

The finished steel imports during the month totalled 2.018 million net tons, significantly higher by 8.7% upon comparison with the final finished steel imports during the prior month. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 21% during the month. The three largest offshore suppliers of finished steel in June this year were South Korea, Japan and Turkey.

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The imports of hot rolled sheets and heavy structural shapes surged higher significantly in June, edging higher by nearly 48% and 38% respectively. The other finished steel product to witness notable volume jump was oil country goods, whose imports were up by 35% over the month before that, AISI said.

Through the initial six months of 2021, the country recorded total and finished steel imports of 14.688 million net tons and 9.995 million net tons respectively. The year-to-date imports of total steel were up by 18.5%, whereas those of finished steel surged by 15.6%, compared to the corresponding half-yearly period in 2020.

The AISI estimates the annualized total and finished steel imports for the whole year 2021 at 29.4 million net tons and 20.0 million net tons respectively.