The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday that the US imported a total of 2,458,000 net tons (nt) of steel in February 2008, including 1,905,000 nt of finished steel -- down eight and 14 percent, respectively, compared to the January final data, and down eight and seven percent vs. 2007 on an annualized basis.
On an annualized basis, total imports of steel in 2008 would be 30.7 million nt.
Some products did buck the downward trend, however. Year-to-date at the end of February 2008, AISI reported, the products which showed increases compared to the same period of 2007 were line pipe (up 57 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 19 percent), hot rolled sheet (up nine percent) and OCTG (up six percent).