Imports’ Share of Steel Market Falls in March
WASHINGTON -- The United States imported 3,219,000 net tons of steel in March, including 2,425,000 net tons of finished steel, research by the American Iron and Steel Institute found. These figures are down 2% and up 6.6%, respectively, compared with February data.
The AISI report is based on preliminary Census Bureau data.
Year to date, total and finished steel imports are 9,710,000 and 7,141,000 net tons, respectively, up 26% and 17% respectively, versus 2013. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2014 would be 38.8 million and 28.6 million net tons, up 21% and 15% respectively over 2013. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 25% in March and is estimated at 25% year to date.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in March compared to February are reinforcing bar (up 66%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 56%), wire rods (up 35%), tin plate (up 31%), cold rolled sheets (up 27%) and cut lengths plates (up 18%).
Major products with significant year-to-date import increases compared with the same period last year are wire rods (up 91%), plates in coils (up 86%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 43%), hot-rolled sheets (up 41%), cold-rolled sheets (up 33%), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 31%), reinforcing bar (up 28%), cut-lengths plates (up 20%), and oil country goods (up 19%).
In March, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (345,000 net tons, down 11% from February); China (200,000 net tons, up 13%); Japan (170,000 net tons, up 10%); Turkey (169,000 net tons, up 70%); and Russia (99,000 net tons, down 5%).
For the first quarter, the largest offshore suppliers are South Korea (1,166,000 net tons, up 21%); China (567,000 net tons, up 27%); Japan (497,000 net tons, up 11%); Turkey (469,000 net tons, up 16%); and India (300,000 net tons, up 64%).
The American Iron and Steel Institute is composed of 22 member companies, including integrated and electric furnace steelmakers, and approximately 125 associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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