Posted on 29 Sep 2020
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) today reported that the country imported a total of 1.300 million net tons (NT) during the month of August this year. The imports through the initial eight months of the current year totalled 16.400 million NT. The above figures are based on the most recent data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The total steel imports were down sharply by approximately 52% in the month of August, when compared with the July final data. The imports through August also recorded notable decline by 20.7% over the previous year.
The monthly finished steel imports were down by 13.9.7% to 1.118 million NT. The cumulative finished steel imports during the initial eight-month period of 2020 totalled 11.211 million NT, down significantly by 26.9% in comparison with the corresponding period last year. Also, the finished steel import market share stood at 17% in August and nearly 19% during the initial eight months in 2020.
The AISI predicts the total and finished steel imports for the whole year 2020 at 24.601 million NT and 16.816 million NT respectively.
The finished steel product to report largest decline in import volumes over the previous month was ingots and billets and slabs, whose imports nosedived by almost 92%. The imports of heavy structural shapes too were down significantly by almost 58%. The largest offshore suppliers of imported finished steel by the U.S. were South Korea, Japan and Germany.
Source:Scrap Monster
