Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday that the US imported a total of 3,059,000 net tons (nt) of steel in October, including 2,233,000 nt of finished steel (up 8.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, vs. September final data). Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 27,010,000 and 20,986,000 nt, respectively, down 5 percent each, respectively, vs. 2012. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2013 would be 32.4 and 25.2 million nt, down 3 percent each, respectively vs. 2012. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 24 percent in October and is estimated at 23 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in October 2013 compared to September are sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 89 percent), oil country goods (up 53 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 34 percent) and sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 31 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include reinforcing bars (up 25 percent), hot rolled bars (up 16 percent) and sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 12 percent).
In October, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were all from Asia and Europe. They were from South Korea (369,000 nt, up 9 percent vs. September final), China (214,000 nt, up 10 percent), Japan (126,000 nt, down 34 percent), India (117,000 nt, up 117 percent) and Germany (105,000 nt, up 19 percent). For 10 months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,143,000 nt, down 2 percent), Japan (1,607,000 nt, down 6 percent), China (1,592,000 nt, up 20 percent), Turkey (1,083,000 nt, down 9 percent) and Germany (911,000 nt, down 13 percent).