November Preliminary Imports at 2.8 Million Tons

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported Preliminary Census Data for November showing foreign steel imports totaling 2.8 million net tons for the month.This is up from 2.7 million net tons reported during the month of October. We saw increases in semi-finished of 210,000 net tons which accounted for the larger numbers. Semi-finished steels include slabs and billets – both used by the domestic steel mills.

December was once trending above 3.0 million net tons but has dropped back to 2.6 million tons due to the Holidays. We think December will come in close to the 12 month moving average (2.7 million net tons) and that tonnage will begin to slide as we move into the new year due to the trade cases and higher selling prices around the globe.