Based on preliminary US Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that the US imported a total of 2,870,000 net tons (nt) of steel in August, including 2,199,000 nt of finished steel (up 13.9 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively, compared with July final data). Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 21,123,000 nt and 16,569,000 nt, respectively, down 9 percent and 7 percent versus 2012. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2013 would be 31.7 and 24.9 million nt, down 5 percent and 4 percent respectively versus 2012. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 24 percent in August and is estimated at 23 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in August 2013 compared to July are reinforcing bars (up 117 percent), oil country goods (up 62 percent), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 50 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 27 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 21 percent), standard pipe (up 15 percent) and plates in coils (up 13 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include reinforcing bars (up 13 percent).
In August, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were mostly from Asia and Europe. They were from South Korea (355,000 nt, up 17 percent versus July final), Japan (182,000 nt, up 23 percent), Argentina (111,000 nt, up 937 percent), China (109,000 nt, down 38 percent) and Turkey (93,000 nt, up 59 percent). For the first eight months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,416,000 nt, down 3 percent), Japan (1,288,000 nt, down 5 percent), China (1,184,000 nt, up 9 percent), Turkey (891,000 nt, down 17 percent) and Germany (717,000 nt, down 13 percent).