According to preliminary census data from the US Department of Commerce, US imports of tin plate totaled 71,571 mt in December 2017, down 8.6 percent from November and down 16.3 percent from December 2016 levels. By value, tin plate imports totaled $68.8 million in December 2017, compared to $75.3 million in the previous month and $75.4 million in the same month last year.
The US imported the most tin plate from Germany in December, with 25,401 mt, compared to 16,378 mt in November and 9,380 mt in December 2016. Other top sources of imported tin plate in December include Netherlands, with 19,415 mt; Canada, with 12,521 mt; Korea, with 6,476 mt; Brazil, with 4,378 mt; and China, with 2,334 mt.
For the full-year 2017, US tin plate imports totaled 854,024 mt, up 6.1 percent from the 804,631 mt imported in 2016. By value, US tin plate imports in 2017 totaled $820.2 million, compared to $725.5 million in 2016.
The top sources of imported tin plate in 2017 were Netherlands, with 264,715 mt; Germany, with 197,770 mt; Canada, with 167,648 mt; Korea, with 88,039 mt; and China, with 63,223 mt.