Steel Products Prices North America
April Steel Imports Trending at 3.3 Million Tons
Written by John Packard
April 27, 2015
Steel Market Update reviews the weekly steel import license data as reported by the US Department of Commerce. License data can be quite volatile and we only use the reports as a way of evaluating any changes in tonnage or product trends. The closer we get to the end of the month the better the data becomes. However, using last month as an example, the Preliminary Census Data came in 200,000 tons less than what the license data was suggesting, even after the month had ended.
Based on data released this afternoon, total steel imports are trending toward a 3.3 million net ton month. SMU believes the final number could range anywhere from 3.1 million to 3.4 million tons.
We thought you might be interested in seeing what the license data was like based on the 4th week of the months of December, January, February, March and April. The number shown is the average daily tonnage rate. As you can see, April is the lowest month seen since December and the license numbers are pointing toward a smaller number of tons will be imported in April than March.
In the table below we provide another way of looking at imports based on the data that we have available today. Shown are the 12 month and 3 month moving averages, the February Final Census numbers (no changes will be made to these numbers), March Preliminary Census Data (minor changes can occur) and April License Data Trend Analysis that we do.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
CRU: Q3 will be the lowest point in current sheet price cycle
CRU Principal Analyst Shankhadeep Mukherjee expects a restocking cycle for steel sheet products in most parts of the world due to either low inventories or seasonally stronger demand.
CRU: US rebar and wire rod prices rise alongside S232 increase
CRU Senior Steel Analyst Alexandra Anderson discusses current market and pricing dynamics for long steel products in the US.
SMU Price Ranges: Sheet and plate steady ahead of Independence Day
Sheet and plate prices were little changed in the shortened week ahead of Independence Day, according to SMU’s latest check of the market.
Nucor maintains plate prices, opens August order book
Nucor aims to keep plate prices flat again with the opening of its August order book.
Nucor CSP remains level at $900/ton
Nucor maintained its weekly list price for hot-rolled (HR) coil this week, following two consecutive increases.