Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that the US imported a total of 2,456,000 net tons (nt) of steel in April 2016, including 2,014,000 net tons (nt) of finished steel (down 5.6 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, vs. March final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) through four months of 2016 total and finished steel imports are 9,982,000 and 8,442,000 net tons (nt), down 34 percent and 33 percent respectively, vs. the same period in 2015. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2016 would be 29.9 and 25.3 million nt, down 23 percent and 20 percent respectively vs. 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 24 percent in April and is estimated at 25 percent YTD.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in April compared to March are line pipe (up 38 percent), hot rolled bars (up 35 percent), structural pipe and tube (up 27 percent), standard pipe (up 17 percent) and cold rolled sheets (up 15 percent).
In April, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (337,000 nt, up 20 percent from March Final), Japan (140,000 nt, down 6 percent), Turkey (123,000 nt, down 56 percent), Germany (88,000 nt, up 22 percent) and China (68,000 nt, down 2 percent). For four months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,234,000 nt, down 48 percent), Turkey (851,000 nt, down 30 percent), Japan (591,000 nt, down 31 percent), Germany (362,000 nt, down 33 percent) and Brazil (332,000 nt, down 34 percent).