U.S. Imports of Finished Steel Collapsed 25% in June

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent data published by the U.S. Census Bureau suggests notable decline in imports of total and finished steel by the country in June this year. When matched with the May ’18 final imports data, the imports of total and finished steel were down significantly by 15.5% and 24.6% respectively. The total steel imports reduced to 2.480 million net tons (NT) in June, comprising of 1.843 million NT of finished steel. It must be noted that steel import permits had registered decline during the month.

The cumulative steel imports by the country during the first half of 2018 totaled 17.869 million NT, down by 9.3% upon comparison with the imports of 19.696 million NT during the corresponding six-month period last year. The finished steel imports during Jan-June ’18 registered 7.1% year-on-year decline from 15.070 million NT to 13.999 million NT. Going by the current momentum, the steel imports by the country are likely to witness a decline of 6.3% this year.

Among various steel mill products imported during the month, Ingots and Billets and Slabs saw the highest volume of imports. The imports surged higher by over 30% to total 636,898 NT during the month. In second place was Sheets and Strip Galvanized Hot Dipped (272,289 NT), followed by Oil Country Goods (198,609 NT). The other products to record significant import volume were Cold Rolled Sheets (169,834 NT), Hot Rolled Sheets (168,815 NT) and Line Pipe (162,076 NT).

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The imports of Reinforcing bars witnessed sharpest year-on-year decline of nearly 71%, followed by Heavy Structural Shapes and Plates Cut Lengths which recorded cuts in import volumes by 66.8% and 53.2% respectively.

The largest exporter of finished steel to the U.S. in June this year was South Korea. The imports from that country surged higher by 89% over the previous month to total 208,000 NT. The imports from Japan too were up by 7% at 129,000 NT. In third place was Vietnam, which upped its U.S. supplies by 61% to 120,000 NT.