U.S. Preliminary Steel Imports Drop 14% in June
07/24/2013 - Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,442,000 tons of steel in June, including 1,956,000 tons of finished steel (down 14% and 9%, respectively, vs. May final data).
Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 15,714,000 and 12,351,000 tons, respectively, down 11% and 9% vs. 2012.
Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2013 would be 31.4 and 24.7 million tons, down 6% and 4% respectively vs. 2012. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 23% in June and is estimated at 23% YTD.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in June 2013 compared to May are plates in coils (up 30%), mechanical tubing (up 18%) and hot rolled sheets (up 10%).
In June, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were all from Asia and Europe. They were from South Korea (234,000 tons, down 17% vs. May final), China (153,000 tons, down 17%), Japan (129,000 tons, down 24%), Germany (106,000 tons, up 67%) and Turkey (99,000 tons, down 42%). For six months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,752,000 tons, down 7%), Japan (955,000 tons, down 5%), China (896,000 tons, up 11%), Turkey (740,000 tons, down 18%) and Germany (556,000 tons, down 13%).
