The US Department of Commerce released preliminary census data Tuesday showing that steel imports to the US declined by 17.5 percent in December from November, and dropped by 4.2 percent for the full year of 2008 over 2007.
The census data show that total steel imports in December 2008 were 1.99 million net tons (nt), compared to 2.41 million ntin November 2008, which represents a 17.5 percent decrease, and a 0.9 percent decrease compared to December 2007. According to year-to-date figures, imports decreased 4.2 percent compared to 2007, from 33.2 million nt in 2007 to 31.8 million nt in 2008.
"This is the second year in a row that imports have declined. The 4.2 percent decline comes on the heels of a 27 percent decline from record arrivals in 2006 to 2007," said David Phelps, president of trade group, American Institute for International Steel (AIIS). "We expect arrivals to continue to decline for a number of months still - based on the AIIS monthly survey of importers during the fourth quarter," said Phelps.
On the other hand, US domestic steel industry advocacy group, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), pointed out that the monthly average amount of finished steel imports in the fourth quarter remained at the same level as in the first nine months of the year, despite the "sharply deteriorating market conditions" that caused monthly average fourth quarter domestic shipments to drop by 38 percent compared to the monthly average of the prior three quarters. "As a result, while finished steel import market share was an estimated 24 percent for 2008 as a whole, the imports' share rose to 32 percent in the last quarter of the year," a press release from AISI said.