WASHINGTON: Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the U.S. imported a total of 2,786,000 net tons (NT) of steel in May 2016, including 2,077,000 NT of finished steel (up 12.2 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively, vs. April final data). Year-to-date (YTD) through 5 months of 2016 total and finished steel imports are 12,795,000 and 10,544,000 NT, both down 31 percent vs. the same period in 2015.
Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2016 would be 30.7 and 25.3 million NT, down 21 percent and 20 percent respectively vs. 2015. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 23 percent in May and is estimated at 24 percent YTD. Key finished steel products with a significant import increase in May compared to April are tin plate (up 75 percent), reinforcing bars (up 41 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 32 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 18 percent) and oil country goods (up 16 percent).
In May, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (352,000 NT, up 4 percent from April final), Turkey (147,000 NT up 20 percent), Germany (125,000 NT, up 41 percent) and Japan (118,000 NT, down 15 percent). For five months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,589,000 NT, down 42 percent), Turkey (999,000 NT, down 31 percent), Japan (709,000 NT, down 32 percent), Germany (487,000 NT, down 28 percent) and Brazil (427,000 NT, down 30 percent).
