NEW YORK: US mills exported 826,470 st of steel in August, up 1.7% from July, but down 21.2% from August 2014, the American Institute for International Steel reported Thursday.
Canada and Mexico “modestly boosted their purchases, and shipments to the European Union increased by nearly a third” in August, the AIIS said in a statement.
US mill shipments to Canada totaled 406,475 st in August, 1.5% higher than in July, but down nearly 30% from August 2014.
Exports to Mexico totaled 316,938 st for the month, up 1.8% from July but down 12.2% from August 2014.
US exports to the EU rose 32% from July to August’s 32,888 st, up 6.9% higher than in August a year ago.
January-August export totaled 6.94 million st, down 14.5% from the same period of 2014. Canada led the year-to-date decline, falling 22.2% to 3.38 million st. Exports to Mexico dropped 4.3% to 2.66 million st, while exports to the EU increased 8.6% to 249,387 st.
“Canada’s economy has struggled all year, and since that nation buys about half of all of the steel that is shipped out of the United States, export numbers are unlikely to grow much until conditions improve north of the border,” the AIIS said. “And, notwithstanding the small increase in exports in August, it may be a while before that happens.
“The International Monetary Fund recently downgraded its forecast of economic growth in Canada to a dismal 1% for this year and a mediocre 1.7% in 2016,” AIIS said. “While the Canadian government is projecting faster growth of 2% this year and 2.2% next year, even those optimistic numbers are not exactly robust.”
