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Imports Jump to Monthly High in May

06/28/2007 - The U.S. imported 3,210,000 net tons of steel in May 2007, a 13% increase compared to the previous month, according to the latest report from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). Finished steel imports were up 25% over the previous month’s final data, and monthly totals for both categories reached their highest monthly totals for the year.

The United States imported a total of 3,210,000 net tons of steel in May 2007, a 13% increase compared to the previous month, according to the latest report from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI). 
 
The report, which is based on preliminary Census Bureau data, shows that the May total includes 2,773,000 net tons of finished steel, which reflects a 25% over the previous month’s final data. In both categories, the surge in May imports produced the highest monthly total for the year. 
 
While imports overall this year have declined vs. the all-time record year of 2006, total and finished steel imports through the first five months of 2007, on an annualized basis, are up 10 and 15%, respectively, vs. 2005, which was also a year of significant import levels. 
 
Key products with large increases in May vs. April include
 
  • Wire rods — up 142%
  • Reinforcing bars — up 90%
  • Structural heavy shapes — up 50%
  • Hot-rolled sheets — up 41%
  • Cold-rolled sheets — up 37%
  • Oil country goods — up 37%
  • Other tubular products, including standard pipe — up 34%  
For May, the five largest foreign suppliers of finished steel from offshore were China (524,000 net tons), South Korea (206,000 net tons), Japan (155,000 net tons), Brazil (134,000 net tons), and Taiwan (110,000 net tons). 
 
“During the month of May, steel imports increased substantially from a variety of sources across a wide range of products,” said AISI Chairman Ward J. Timken Jr., who is Chairman of The Timken Co. Board of Directors. “The United States clearly remains a magnet for steel imports, despite the fact that the U.S. steel industry has achieved world-class efficiency by virtually any measure. With state-supported steel capacity additions and trade and market-distorting practices on the rise worldwide, we need to ensure consistent enforcement of our trade remedy laws and strengthen these laws up to their WTO-allowable limits.”
 
“The surge in steel imports from China to over 500,000 net tons in May — which equates to an annualized rate in excess of 6,000,000 net tons — is of particular concern to domestic steel producers,” AISI President and CEO Andrew G. Sharkey III, said. “It is one more reminder of why we need full and strict enforcement of all of our trade laws with regard to imports from this non-market economy.”