The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday, based on preliminary Census Bureau data, US steel import totals in August 2007 were down both month-on-month and year-on-year.
AISI reported that the US imported a total of 2,558,000 net tons (nt) of steel in August 2007, including 2,034,000 nt of finished steel, down 22 percent and 18 percent, respectively, versus July final data.
On an annualized basis, the data showed, total imports of steel in 2007 as of the end of August would be 35.5 million nt, with 28.5 million nt of finished products. Finished steel imports for the same period of 2006 equaled 36.0 million tons, marking a 20.6 percent decrease of finished steel imports in 2007 compared to the same period of 2006.
The data showed that compared to the previous month, the following products showed large increases in August 2007: standard rails (up 127 percent); heavy structural shapes (up 26 percent); cold finished bars (up 17 percent); and tin plate (up 16 percent).
In August, the five largest suppliers of finished steel from offshore were China (360,000 nt, down 26 percent vs. July), Japan (147,000 nt, up 2 percent), South Korea (144,000 nt, down 28 percent), Taiwan (130,000 nt, down 26 percent) and Germany (102,000 nt, up 25 percent). YTD finished steel from China on an annualized basis would equal 5.2 million nt, which AISI noted was only slightly below last year's record total.