According to preliminary census data from the US Department of Commerce, US imports of hot rolled sheet totaled 138,647 mt in December 2017, down 8.9 percent from November and down 5.6 percent from December 2016 levels. By value, HRC imports totaled $88.9 million in December 2017, compared to $102.4 million in the previous month and $80.4 million in the same month last year.
The US imported the most HRC from Canada in December, with 86,214 mt, compared to 76,171 mt in November and 64,315 mt in December 2016. Other top sources of imported HRC in December include the Netherlands, with 13,331 mt; Mexico, with 11,895 mt; Turkey, with 9,619 mt; Germany, with 6,734 mt; and Sweden, with 3,450 mt.
For the full-year 2017, US HRC imports totaled 1,919,229 mt, down 26.5 percent from the 2,610,488 mt imported in 2016. By value, US HRC imports in 2017 totaled $1.21 billion, compared to $1.31 billion in 2016.
The top sources of imported HRC in 2017 were Canada, with 868,192 mt; Japan, with 244,980 mt; Korea, with 160,846 mt; Mexico, with 121,971 mt; and the Netherlands, with 107,186 mt.