USA increased steel imports in July

The US imported a total of 3,243,000 tons of steel in July 2015, an increase of 5 percent.

According to preliminary data from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), the United States imported a total of 3,243,000 tonnes of steel in July 2015, including 2,578,000 tonnes of finished steel products, up 4.6 and 3.7 percent, respectively, compared to with the final data for June. The main finished products with a significant increase in imports in July compared to June were rebar (up 57 percent) and plates in coils (up 29 percent).

During seven months of the year, steel imports amounted to 24.964 million tons, unchanged, while imports of finished products increased by 10 percent compared to the same period in 2014. At the same time, the market share of finished steel imports was 27 percent in July.

The main products that recorded significant increases in imports over the same seven months of 2014 were: large diameter pipes (55 percent growth), rebar (51 percent growth), standard pipes (33 percent growth), galvanized sheets and strips ( 22 percent increase), sheet metal (17 percent increase), cold-rolled sheets (14 percent increase), heavy structural molds (13 percent increase) and slabs (12 percent increase).

In July, the largest volumes of finished steel imports were imported from South Korea (307,000 tons, a decrease of 3 percent against June), China (283,000 tons, an increase of 49 percent), Turkey (229,000 tons, an increase of 42 percent), Japan (179,000 tons, a drop of 2 percent), Germany (145,000 tons, a drop of 3 percent).

The largest suppliers in the first seven months of this year were South Korea (3,367,000 tons, up 6 percent), Turkey (1,837,000 tons, up 68 percent), China (1,805,000 tons, up 1 percent), Japan (1,410,000 tons, up 18 percent) and Germany (968,000 tons, up 48 percent)