How steel tariffs affected the supply of American factories

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported a significant drop in steel shipments to American plants in September. Shipments by US steel mills were 7.812 million tonnes, down 7.5% from the previous month. In August this year, deliveries amounted to 8.442 million tons. However, shipments compared to the previous year increased slightly by 3.3%. In September last year, only 7.560 million tons of steel were supplied to American factories.

In the previous month, several steel products saw significant declines in shipments. Cold-rolled sheet shipments fell sharply by 10%. Hot rolled sheets also recorded a 9% decrease in shipments compared to August 2018. AISI reported that shipments of hot-dip galvanized sheet and strip in September 2018 saw a 7% monthly decline.

Consolidated steel shipments to US plants during the initial nine-month period of 2018 totaled 71.469 million tonnes, up 4.4% from 68.428 million tonnes in January-September 2017.

At the same time, October this year saw a significant increase in the volume of permits for steel imports. Revenues rose 5.3% from the previous month from 2.828 million net tonnes in September 185 to 2.979 million tonnes in October. The application for cold rolled reinforcing steel increased by 59%.