US Finished Steel Imports Forecast To Grow by 16% in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Based on the year-to-date import trends, the American Institute of Iron and Steel (AIIS) has predicted the total imports of finished steel products by the US to grow by nearly 16% during the entire year 2017. The imports from Russia are likely to witness the strongest jump, whereas the imports of Japanese finished steel are likely to fall the most. The latest trade statistics released by the US Census Bureau suggests that finished steel imports by the country are likely to surge by 16% during the entire year 2017. Among various steel mill products, Oil Country Goods are likely to report biggest jump in import volumes. On the other hand, imports of cut Length Plates are likely to decline the most in 2017 upon comparison with the previous year.

As per data, finished steel imports by the country are likely to total 30.520 million net tons (Mt), significantly higher by 15.9% when matched with the yearly import total of 26.338 Mt in 2016. The annualized imports of total steel are expected to grow by nearly one-fifth from 33.022 Mt in 2016 to 39.551 Mt in 2017.

When matched with the previous year, the annualized imports of Oil Country Goods are expected to see sharpest jump in 2017. The imports are projected to surge higher by more than 198% from 1.152 Mt in 2016 to 3.437 Mt in this year. The other category of finished steel that is likely to report significant year-on-year growth during the year is Line Pipes. The imports of Line Pipes are likely to increase by nearly 64% during the year. The other products that may report notable jump in import volumes during the whole year 2017 are Standard Pipe (+46.3%), Ingots and Billets and Slabs (+35.2%), Mechanical Tubing (+31.2%) and Sheets & Strip All other Metallic Coating (+26.1%).

Meantime, the imports of several finished steel products are likely to decline during 2017. Among them, Cut Length Plates are likely to report biggest dip in imports, falling by nearly 32% from 1.228 Mt in 2016 to as low as 839,610 tonnes in 2017. Hot Rolled Sheets (-25.2%), Reinforcing Bars (-13.2%) and Plates in Coils (-1.5%) are the other products that may see drop in import volumes during the whole year 2017, US Census Bureau data indicate.

The US finished steel imports from Russia are likely to surge higher significantly during the current year. The annualized finished steel imports from that country are expected to surge higher by 182.2% in 2017. The annualized imports are projected at 875,000 t in 2017, as against the imports of 310,000 t during the entire year 2016. The imports from Taiwan are likely to expand by 26.3% year-on-year to 1.368 Mt in 2017. On the other hand, finished steel imports from Japan and China are likely to report marginal declines of 8.5% and 1.5% respectively.

The average finished steel imports during the current 3-month period from July to September 2017 based on preliminary imports has recorded 3.7% decline when matched with the rolling average of actual imports during the prior three months from April to June ’17.