US steel imports decrease in August

US steel imports decrease in August

According to the data released by US Commerce Department, US imported 1.5 million metric tons of steel in August 2003. This tonnage includes 1.2 million metric tons of finished steel with a 9.9% decrease compared to previous month figure. The US overall imports dropped 21.6% from July figure of 1.9 million metric tons. The July to August change in steel imports are due to decrease seen in bloom, billets and slabs, basically from Brazil, Mexico, Canada and China. The Jan-July 2003 final figures revealed that US imported 12.7 million metric tons of steel which was decreased by 3.6 million metric tons from the 16.3 million metric tons recorded in the same period last year. The largest commodity decreases were in blooms, billets, slabs and wire rods. Furthermore, the largest country decreases were in Brazil, Russia and Japan. According to the data, Turkey has exported 65'317 metric tons of finished steel products to the US in August. This quantity is 5.3% lower than the same period last year. Furthermore, in the first eight months Turkey exported 621'421 metric tons of finished steel to US. Major import quantities of finished steel imports into the US appear to be coming from Canada, EU, Mexico, Korea and Japan.