Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Tuesday that the US imported a total of 2,241,000 net tons (nt) of steel in November 2008, which represents a 28 percent decrease from October.
The data, supplied by the US Department of Commerce, show that finished steel product imports comprised 2,058,000 nt of the import total, representing a 17 percent decrease from the previous month.
The only steel products which bucked the downward trend in November were: Cut Length Plates (November imports of which were up 33 percent vs. October); Mechanical Tubing (up 10 percent); and Oil Country Goods (up 6 percent).
Products which showed the biggest month-on-month decreases in November included: Ingots, Billets and Slabs (down 71 percent), Plates in Coils (down 51 percent) and Bars - Hot Rolled (down 38 percent).
In November, the largest volume of finished steel imports from offshore was from China, at 585,000 nt, which is down 20 percent from October. In the first eleven months of 2008, Chinese finished steel imports were down 2 percent from the same period of 2007.
Other major offshore suppliers in November include Korea (231,000 nt, up 37 percent from Oct.), Japan (144,000 nt, up 8 percent), Germany (69,000 nt, down 22 percent), Turkey (68,000 nt, down 5 percent) and The Netherlands (58,000 nt, down 47 percent).