Preliminary Steel Imports Up 5% in September
WASHINGTON -- The United States imported 3,892,000 net tons of steel in September, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute, which bases that figure on preliminary Census Bureau data. The figure includes 2,946,000 net tons of finished steel.
The total represents an increase of 5.2% over August final data, while the finished steel figure is up 5.3%.
Year-to-date, total and finished steel imports are 32,557,000 and 24,407,000 net tons, respectively, up 36% and 30%.
Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in September are wire rods (up 37%), cold-rolled sheets (up 36%), hot-rolled sheets (up 28%), cut lengths plates (up 25%), tin plate (up 16%) and sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 13%).
Last month, the largest volumes of finished steel imports were from Asia and Europe: South Korea (385,000 net tons, down 15% from August), China (328,000, up 44%), Russia (178,000, up 72%), Turkey (174,000, down 17%) and Japan (173,000, up 5%).
The American Iron and Steel Institute is a trade association composed of 20 steel producers and approximately 125 steel service centers.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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