According to preliminary census data from the US Department of Commerce, US imports of line pipe totaled 121,693 mt in December 2017, down 16.6 percent from November but up 7.1 percent from December 2016 levels. By value, line pipe imports totaled $120.0 million in December 2017, compared to $145.1 million in the previous month and $93.0 million in the same month last year.
The US imported the most line pipe from Korea in December, with 59,746 mt, compared to 35,042 mt in November and 32,282 mt in December 2016. Other top sources of imported line pipe in December include Mexico, with 14,575 mt; Canada, with 13,827 mt; Japan, with 7,727 mt; Taiwan, with 3,809 mt; and China, with 3,120 mt.
For the full-year 2017, US line pipe imports totaled 2,011,599 mt, up 63.4 percent from the 1,231,149 mt imported in 2016. By value, US line pipe imports in 2017 totaled $1.77 billion, compared to $1.03 billion in 2016.
The top sources of imported line pipe in 2017 were Korea, with 665,700 mt; India, with 392,018 mt; Canada, with 155,662 mt; Mexico, with 155,129 mt; and the Germany, with 135,787 mt.