Year-To-Date Steel Imports Plummeted 22%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that the total steel imports by the U.S. were 1.255 million net tons in September this year. This is based on the monthly imports data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The imports were down by almost 3%, compared with the August 2020 final imports.

The finished steel imports during the month totalled 1.166 million net tons, marginally down by 1.1% upon comparison with the final finished steel imports of 1.179 million net tons. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 16% during the month. The largest offshore suppliers of finished steel in September this year were South Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

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The imports of heavy structural shapes and hot rolled sheets surged higher significantly in September, higher by nearly 114% and 41% respectively. The other finished steel product to witness notable volume jump was plates in coils, whose imports were up by 27.8% over the prior month, AISI said.

Through the first nine months of 2020, the country recorded total and finished steel imports of 17.646 million net tons and 12.367 million net tons respectively. The year-to-date imports of total and finished steel reported sharp declines by 21.9% and 26.7% respectively, over the previous year.

The AISI estimates the annualized total and finished steel imports for the whole year 2020 at 23.5 million net tons and 16.5 million net tons respectively.