Preliminary steel imports increase 35 percent in first half of 2010

Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the United States imported a total of 1,982,000 net tons (NT) of steel in June, including 1,543,000 NT of finished steel (down 14 percent each vs. May final data).

Finished steel import market share was an estimated 19 percent in June, vs. a low of 15 percent in August 2009. Import market share was 21 percent for the 2nd Quarter of 2010 vs. 19 percent in Q1 2010. In the first 6 months of 2010, total and finished steel imports were up 35 percent and 14 percent, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

Key finished steel products with significant import increases in June 2010 compared to May include reinforcing bars (up 131 percent), sheet and strip all other metallic coatings (up 33 percent) and standard pipe (up 14 percent). Key finished steel products with significant import increases in the first 6 months of 2010 vs. the same period of last year include wire rods (up 157 percent), hot rolled bar (up 53 percent), sheet and strip all other metallic coated (up 48 percent), hot rolled sheet (up 45 percent) and sheet and strip hot-dipped galvanized (up 32 percent).

In June, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (152,000, down 16 percent), China (78,000 NT, up 28 percent), Taiwan (77,000, up 245 percent), Japan (71,000 NT, down 43 percent) and Turkey (64,000, up 18 percent). For the first six months of 2010, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (889,000, up 15 percent), Japan (621,000 NT, up 11 percent) and Germany (450,000 NT, up 52 percent).