Steel Products Prices North America
Final April Steel Imports at 3.5 Million Tons
Written by John Packard
June 7, 2015
The US Department of Commerce release Final Census Data regarding April steel imports which were reported to be 3,501,337 net tons in total, down 3.2 percent over March data and down 6.3 percent over the level seen one year ago.
Semi-finished (blooms, billets, and slabs) imports recovered 118,000 tons from the four year low we saw in March, coming in at 532,799 tons. Semi-finished steels are purchased by the domestic mills and the vast majority of the slabs are going to mills such as California Steel, AM/NS Calvert, NLMK USA and others.
Imports of oil country tubular goods dropped to 238,337 tons. This is the lowest level seen since December 2013.
286,484 tons of hot rolled steel were imported in April, slightly lower than what was seen during March. The last time HR imports were this low was during the month of April 2014.
Cold rolled imports increased 40,000 tons in April over March and are now back in line with what we’ve been seeing over the last 12 months.
Galvanized imports declined to 290,315 tons in April after March’s much higher level of 365,492 tons.
Imports of other metallic coated products (mostly Galvalume) rose to the highest level in our recorded history: 115,832 tons.
Plates in coil imports dropped nearly 90,000 tons from March to April coming in at 148,606 tons.
Imports of plates cut lengths declined to 106, 891 tons in April, this is much lower than January 2015’s 210,119 tons.
All of the data in the table below is Final Census totals with the exception of May 2015 which is based on license data. As we have explained in the past, license data can vary from the Final Census data by as much as 200,000-300,000 net tons (+/-). At the moment it appears May will come in approximately 50,000-100,000 tons below the April number.
To see an interactive graphic of our Steel Imports History by Product, visit the Imports History page in the Analysis section of the SMU website. If you need any assistance logging in or navigating the website, contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com or 800-432-3475. Below is a screen-capture of the interactive graphic, click it to be directed to our webpage where you can show and hide select products, adjust the date axis wider or narrower, hover over lines to get see exact numbers, see the data in chart form, etc.
John Packard
Read more from John PackardLatest in Steel Products Prices North America
CRU: Longs pricing trends diverge in North, South America
Most longs prices in the US were unchanged this month, except for rebar, which declined by $1.50/cwt ($30/short ton) m/m. While end-use demand is stable, inventories are well-stocked, keeping purchases limited. Domestic availability is sufficient to meet current demand, hindering the appetite for imported material. Meanwhile, prices for scrap remained under pressure in June, with […]
Nucor cuts plate prices by $125/ton, cites ongoing competition
Nucor Corp. announced that its plate mill group would cut prices for as-rolled, discrete, and normalized plate with the opening of its August order book.
Nucor cuts HR price for fourth straight week
Nucor lowered its consumer spot price (CSP) for hot-rolled (HR) coil by another $10 per short ton (st) for the first week of July. The steelmaker said in a letter to customers on Monday that its CSP base price for the week will be $670/st for all of its sheet mills with the exception of California Steel Industries (CSI).
Cliffs sets $720/ton HR price with opening of August books
Cleveland-Cliffs on Tuesday announced its monthly hot-rolled (HR) coil price of $720 per short ton (st) with the official opening of its August order book. The rate is down from last month’s price of $800/st.
CRU: Demand weakness continues to weigh on global sheet markets
Demand has remained persistently weak across the globe for sheet steel, weighing on prices. US HR coil prices fell the furthest this week as high-volume, low-priced deals were transacted as mills looked to fill order books and competed with one another amid relative demand weakness. Meanwhile, European prices were also down due to low demand […]