WASHINGTON: Steel shipments or the amount of steel mills actually sell to customers, fell 12.4 percent in November, a 15.5 percent decline from November 2014. U.S. steel mills shipped 6.4 million net tons in November, a double-digit drop from 7.3 million tons sold in October and the 7.6 million tons shipped in the previous November, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Through the end of November, shipments totaled 79.9 million net tons, an 11.4 percent year-over-year decrease. In 2014, they sold 90.2 million net tons over the first 11 months of the year.
Demand for steel rose last year but domestic steelmakers like U.S. Steel and ArcelorMittal USA didn’t benefit at all because cheap and often illegally subsidized foreign steel captured 29 percent of the market share.
Official 2015 numbers haven’t been released yet, but the 28 percent market share for foreign imports in 2014 tied the all-time record. Longtime steelmakers like LTV and National Steel went bankrupt the last time steel imports were so high.
In November, hot-dipped galvanized sheets and strip fell 10 percent, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Cold-rolled sheet was down 14 percent and hot-rolled sheet was down 15 percent.
