Based on preliminary US Census Bureau, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday imports of rebar into the US rose 52 percent from March. Imports of line pipe were up 51 percent month-on-month in April and imports of hot dipped galvanized sheet and strip increased 38 percent. Year-to-date, imports of oil country goods had the sharpest increase, rising 58 percent while rebar imports were up 54 percent.
In April, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (309,000 nt and up 28 percent); India (126,000 nt and up 137 percent); Turkey (118,000 nt and up 138 percent). Imports from Japan fell 6 percent to 106,000 nt.
In total the US imported 3,535,000 nt (3,206,917 metric tons) of steel in April, including 1,915,000 nt (1,737,269 metric tons) of finished steel-an increase of 3 percent and 2 percent, respectively from March.