Based on preliminary US Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Monday that the US imported a total of 2,584,000 net tons (nt) of steel in November, including 1,906,000 nt of finished steel (down 16.7 percent and 16.2 percent, respectively, vs. October final data). Year-to-date (YTD) total and finished steel imports are 29,636,000 and 22,933,000 nt, respectively, down 4 percent and 5 percent respectively, vs. 2012. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2013 would be 32.3 and 25.0 million nt, down 3 percent each, respectively vs. 2012. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 22 percent in November and is estimated at 23 percent YTD.

A key finished steel product with a significant import increase in November 2013 compared to October is reinforcing bars (up 26 percent). Major products with significant YTD import increases vs. the same period last year include reinforcing bars (up 23 percent), hot rolled bars (up 14 percent) and sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 12 percent).

In November, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were all from Asia and Europe. They were from South Korea (244,000 nt, down 38 percent vs. October final), China (163,000 nt, down 24 percent), Japan (139,000 nt, up 11 percent), Germany (103,000 nt, down 5 percent) and Turkey (75,000 nt, up 3 percent). For 11 months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,413,000 nt, down 2 percent), China (1,755,000 nt, up 18 percent), Japan (1,746,000 nt, down 5 percent), Turkey (1,159,000 nt, down 11 percent) and Germany (1,017,000 nt, down 12 percent).