Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that the US imported a total of 3,219,000 net tons (nt) of steel in March, including 2,425,000 nt of finished steel (down 2.0 percent and up 6.6 percent, respectively, vs. February final data). Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 9,710,000 and 7,141,000 nt, respectively, up 26 percent and 17 percent respectively, vs. 2013. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2014 would be 38.8 and 28.6 million nt, up 21 percent and 15 percent respectively vs. 2013. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 25 percent in March and is estimated at 25 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in March compared to February are reinforcing bar (up 66 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 56 percent), wire rods (up 35 percent), tin plate (up 31 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 27 percent) and cut lengths plates (up 18 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include wire rods (up 91 percent), plates in coils (up 86 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 43 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 41 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 33 percent), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 31 percent), reinforcing bar (up 28 percent), cut lengths plates (up 20 percent), and oil country goods (up 19 percent).
In March, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (345,000 nt, down 11 percent vs. February final), China (200,000 nt, up 13 percent), Japan (170,000 nt, up 10 percent), Turkey (169,000 nt, up 70 percent) and Russia (99,000 nt, down 5 percent). For three months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,166,000 nt, up 21 percent), China (567,000 nt, up 27 percent), Japan (497,000 nt, up 11 percent), Turkey (469,000 nt, up 16 percent) and India (300,000 nt, up 64 percent).