The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced Wednesday that based on preliminary US Census Bureau data, the US imported 2,048,000 net tons (nt) of steel in January, including 1,632,000 nt of finished steel, up 10 and 8 percent, respectively, from December data. Import market share for finished steel products was approximately 21 percent last month, up 1 percent from December.
The most significant month-over-month increases of imported finished steel products are reinforcing bar (up 44 percent), wire rod (up 34 percent), as well as standard pipe (up 38 percent), line pipe (up 34 percent), and oil country goods (up 24 percent).
The largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (213,000 nt and up 9 percent), Japan (126,000 nt up 23 percent), Germany (78,000 nt and up 20 percent) and Australia (74,000 nt and up78 percent).