In a statement, AISI said total net imports appear to have fallen to 28.7 million net tons, based on December import license data. Finished steel imports seem to have declined, too, it said, dropping nearly 18% to 21.1 million net tons. 

Based on the data, AISI said the largest overseas exporters in 2019 were South Korea, which shipped 2.6 million net tons to the U.S., followed by Japan, which shipped 1.3 million net tons, and Germany, which shipped 1 million net tons. 

But the trade association cautioned that the data is based in part on import permits and is therefore preliminary. 

“Note that import permits data are counts of tonnages requested in applications for licenses to import steel mill products and are not actual import volumes. For a number of reasons, permit tonnages may understate or overstate actual import volumes for the month, preliminary estimates of which will be available later this month,” it said.