US January steel imports down versus December

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.