U.S. Finished Steel Imports Witnessed 12% Jump in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. steel imports surged higher by 15% during the entire year 2017. The imports of finished steel were up by 12.2% during the year. The preliminary data published by the US Census Bureau also notes that finished steel import market share increased to 27% during the previous year. It must be noted that the US Steel Imports Up To November 2017 had surged nearly 18%.

The total steel imports by the US in 2017 were 38.121 million net tons (NT) in 2017. Out of this, finished steel imports totaled 29.558 million NT. When compared with the full year 2016, the imports of total and finished steel by the country were up sharply by 15.4% and 12.2% respectively.

Major products reported significant jump in import volumes during the previous year. The imports of Oil Country Goods witnessed 196% jump during the entire year 217 as compared with the year before. The other products to witness considerable increase in import volumes in 2017 were line pipe (up 62.9%), standard pipe (up 39.5%), mechanical tubing (up 29.9%) and hot rolled bars (up 22.5%). Meantime, cut length plates recorded 32.6% decline in yearly imports. The other products to witness decline in import volumes were hot rolled sheets (-26.6%) and reinforcing bars (-25.8%).

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The largest exporters of finished steel products to the US during 2017 were South Korea, Turkey, Japan, Germany and Taiwan. The finished steel imports from South Korea totaled 3.753 million NT, accounting for nearly 13% of the total finished steel imports by the US. However, the imports from that country dropped marginally by 2% during 2017. The imports from Turkey too dropped sharply by 9% to total 2.191 million NT, whereas those from Japan tumbled by 16% to 1.504 million NT. On the other hand, the imports from Germany and Taiwan were up by 18% and 15% respectively.

The US imported 2.446 million NT and 1.877 million NT of total and finished steel respectively during the month of December 2017. The finished steel imports were down sharply by 11.4% and 13.5% respectively, when matched with the November final data. Only four products-cold rolled sheets, wire rods, structural heavy shapes and mechanical tubing reported increase in import volumes over the previous months. South Korea, Germany and Brazil were the top three suppliers of finished steel to the US during December 2017.