AISI: steel imports increased in the USA

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the United States imported a total of 2,785,771 tonnes of steel in May 2016, up 12.2% from April. The share of finished steel imports on the market is estimated at 23% in May and 24% during the first five months of this year.

The main finished steel products with a significant increase in imports in May this year compared to April are tinplate (up to 75%), reinforcing bars (up to 41%), heavy structural forms (up to 32%), hot-rolled sheets (up up to 18%) and oilfield products (up 16%).

On the other hand, imports of line pipes fell sharply during May 2016. Imports fell 42.4% from 159,792 tons in April to 92,020 tons in May. Hot rolled strips were also down 25.5% in imports from the previous month. Imports in May this year amounted to 87,637 tonnes compared to NT117558 imports in the previous month. Imports of standard pipes fell by almost 7% to 73,768 tons from 79,209 tons in the previous month.

The key products of finished steel imports during the five months from January to May of this year were billets and slabs (2,235,050 tons), hot-rolled sheets (1,282,676 tons) and galvanized sheets and strips (1,174,161 tons).

In May, the largest exporters of finished steel to the United States were South Korea (352,000 tons, up 3.5% compared to April), Turkey (147,000 tons, up 20%), Germany (125,000 tons, up 41.3%) , Japan (118,000 tons, down 15.4%), Brazil (95,000 tons, up 101.2%), Vietnam (75,000 tons, up 50.9%) and China (73,000 tons, up 7 ,one%).