Finished Steel Imports to Decline by A Fifth in 2020

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) forecasts significant decline in imports of finished steel by the country during the current year. The estimates provided by the association are based on the import trends during the initial eight-month period of the year.

The country is likely to witness 20.1% decline in finished steel imports in the entire year 2020. As per estimates, the full-year finished imports are likely to total 16.816 million net tons in 2020. The U.S. finished imports had totalled 21.051 million net tons in the whole of 2019. Meantime, the total steel imports are likely to see a decline of 11.9% from 27.937 million net tons in 2019 to 24.601 million net tons during this year, AISI said.

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The AISI foresees modest to sharp decline in import volumes of majority of steel mill products during the year, barring a few such as ingots and billets and slabs, reinforcing bars and all other metallic sheets and strips. The imports of line pipes are likely to decline the most, falling by nearly 57% from the previous year. The imports of oil country goods and plates in coils are likely to drop by 43.2% and 29.6% respectively.

The imports of finished steel mill products from Turkey are likely to surge higher by 92.5% in 2020. On the contrary, AISI forecasts 35% contraction in finished imports from Japan during the year.