According to preliminary census data from the US Department of Commerce, US imports of rebar totaled 47,890 mt in December 2017, down 12.5 percent from November and down 62.9 percent from December 2016 levels. By value, rebar imports totaled $27.7 million in December 2017, compared to $29.8 million in the previous month and $49.5 million in the same month last year.
The US imported the most rebar from Portugal in December, with 17,029 mt, compared to zero tonnage in November 2017 and December 2016. Other top sources of imported rebar in December include Brazil, with 10,027 mt; Mexico, with 7,506 mt; Spain, with 5,755 mt; Costa Rica, with 3,013 mt; and Dominican Republic, with 2,623 mt.
For the full-year 2017, US rebar totaled 1,347,303 mt, down 29.5 percent from the 1,912,650 mt imported in 2016. By value, US rebar imports in 2017 totaled $633.3 million, compared to $734.4 million in 2016.
The top sources of imported rebar in 2017 were Turkey, with 791,586 mt; Portugal, with 100,422 mt; Spain, with 85,290 mt; Brazil, with 68,775 mt; and Italy, with 51,096 mt.