US steel imports rise 17 percent in January - AISI

According to preliminary data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the United States imported a total of 4,250,000 tons of steel in January 2015, including 3,429,000 tons of finished steel. This indicates an increase in steel imports by 16.8 percent and finished rolled products by 15.9 percent compared to the final data of December last year.

In addition, since the beginning of the year, all steel imports have increased by 33 percent and finished rolled products by 40 percent compared to the same period in 2014. The steel import market share is estimated to have reached 32 percent in January this year.

The main finished products, which had a significant increase in imports in January 2015 compared to December last year, were metal-coated sheets and strips (up 110 percent), hot-rolled sheets (up 39 percent), standard pipes (up 36 percent) and reinforcing bars. rods (by 19 percent).

In January 2015, the largest volumes of finished steel imports were received from South Korea 836 thousand tons, an increase of 100 percent compared to December 2014; from Turkey 275 thousand tons, an increase of 69 percent; from Japan 211 thousand tons, an increase of up 14 percent; from China 198 thousand tons, a decrease of 10 percent; from Brazil 187 thousand tons, an increase of up to 77 percent.