According to preliminary census data from the US Department of Commerce, US imports of plates in coil totaled 90,899 mt in December 2017, down 24.3 percent from November and down 16.6 percent from December 2016 levels. By value, plates in coil imports totaled $60.0 million in December 2017, compared to $84.6 million in the previous month and $61.6 million in the same month last year.
The US imported the most plates in coil from Canada in December, with 51,201 mt, compared to 57,217 mt in November and 47,671 mt in December 2016. Other top sources of imported plates in coil in December include Mexico, with 12,410 mt; Sweden, with 7,806 mt; Germany, with 6,272 mt; Netherlands, with 4,702 mt; and Turkey, with 4,587 mt.
For the full-year 2017, US plates in coil imports totaled 1,215,825 mt, up 1.0 percent from the 1,203,296 mt imported in 2016. By value, US plates in coil imports in 2017 totaled $830.6 million, compared to $650.4 million in 2016.
The top sources of imported plates in coil in 2017 were Canada, with 667,501 mt; Mexico, with 123,061 mt; Netherlands, with 96,796 mt; Germany, with 67,408 mt; and Korea, with 54,984 mt.