The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced Tuesday that based on preliminary Census Bureau data, for the whole of 2010, steel imports in the US were 23.8 million nt, up 47 percent from 2009 year-end total imports, while finished steel imports were up 33 percent year-over-year, totaling 18.8 million nt in 2010. Compared to 2009 imports, wire rods and hot rolled bars had the largest year-over-year increase, surging 73 and 56 percent, respectively. Other notable year-over-year increases were a 48 percent increase in imports of oil country goods, a 40 percent increase of plates in coil shipments as a well as a 38 percent increase in hot rolled sheet, and 37 percent increase in galvanized sheet and strip. In 2010, finished steel import market share was at an estimated 21 percent.
The US imported 1,811,000 nt of steel in December, which includes 1,455,000 nt of finished steel products, up 1 percent and down 3 percent, respectively, from November imports. In December over November, the most significant finished product imports were of cut-to-length plate (up 37 percent), hot rolled bars (up 25 percent) and line pipe (up 17 percent).