US January steel imports down versus December
The US imported 2.2 million metric tons of steel in January 2005, including 1.6 million metric tons of finished steel, according to preliminary data from the US Commerce Department.
Total and finished steel imports in January declined 18% and 26.2% respectively from December 2004, but rose 1.8% and 3.6% respectively year-on-year.
The change in steel imports from December to January reflects decreases in
wire rods, cold rolled sheets and hot dipped
galvanized sheets. Monthly changes in steel imports indicate decreases from
China,
Argentina and
Mexico.
For the whole of 2004, steel imports reached 32.5 million metric tons, up 11.5 million metric tons from the 21 million metric tons in 2003. The largest commodity increases were in blooms, billets, slabs, hot rolled sheets and
wire rods.
Russia,
Brazil,
China,
Turkey and
Mexico led the way in exports to the US.
The data show that
Turkey exported 76'203 metric tons of finished steel to the US in January 2005. This pace is 22.2% slower than December 2004. Major import quantities of finished steel appear to be coming from
Canada, the EU,
Korea,
China and
Mexico.