US steel imports grew 38 percent in 2014

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that the country's imports during 2014 grew by 38 percent in total volume and 36 percent in finished products, compared with 2013 imports. In 2014, the country's total imports amounted to 44.32 billion tons and 33.733 million tons of finished rolled products. According to the latest data, the United States imported a total of 3.62 million tonnes of steel in December 2014, including 2.941 finished steel products.

The main products of finished products with a significant increase in imports in December compared to November last year are: wire (up to 36 percent), tubular products (up to 13 percent), hot-rolled strips (up to 11 percent) and sheet steel in coils (up to 10 percent) ... In December 2014, the largest volumes of finished steel were imported from South Korea (418,000 tons), China (217,000 tons), Japan (185,000 tons), Russia (181,000 tons) and Germany (164,000 tons).

In addition, the key imports of finished products, which increased significantly throughout 2014 compared to the previous year, are: sheet steel in coils (up to 90 percent), cold-rolled sheets (up to 88 percent), wire rod (up to 85 percent) and slabs (up to 83 percent).

Throughout 2014, the largest suppliers were: South Korea (5.448 million tons, an increase of 47 percent), China (3.187 million tons, an increase of 68 percent), Turkey (2.196 million tons, an increase of 82 percent), Japan (2.106 million tons, an increase of 11 percent) and Russia (1.418 million tons, an increase of 489 percent).