U.S. Finished Steel Imports to Drop by 15% in 2020

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) foresee 14.7% decline in yearly finished steel imports by the country in 2020, when matched with the previous year.

Based upon the trend during the initial two-month period of the current year, the imports are likely to total around 17.954 million net tons (NT) in the whole of 2020. This compares with the yearly finished steel imports of 21.051 million NT in 2019. Meantime, the total finished steel imports are likely to remain essentially flat at approximately 27.930 million NT in 2020, AISI noted.

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According to AISI, several finished steel products are likely to see huge decline in import volumes. The first among them are Line Pipes, whose imports are likely to plunge by 62% over the previous year. The imports of Oil Country Goods are expected to drop by 45.7%. Also, Cut Length Plates imports may witness year-on-year decline by 37.1% during the current year. On the contrary, Ingots and Billets and Slabs imports may see almost 45% surge in imports.

AISI predicts 126.4% surge in imports of finished steel mill products from Turkey, which will be more than offset by declines elsewhere. The imports from Vietnam, Taiwan and Germany are likely to fall the most, said AISI data.