Steel Products Prices North America

Final February Imports at 2.7 Million Tons, March Licenses at 3.4 Million Tons

Written by John Packard

April 6, 2017

Based on the report filed by the U.S. Department of Commerce earlier this week, March 2017 foreign steel imports will be well above 3 million net tons and could be as high as 3.4 million tons. The last time we saw licenses at, or above, 3.4 million net tons was May 2015, the month prior to the first filing of antidumping and countervailing duties on corrosion resistant steels (CORE).

At the same time the DOC reported Final Census numbers for February 2017 which showed imports as being 2,721,887 net tons, below the 12-month moving average.

The big number in the March numbers is the eight hundred thirty-one thousand tons (831,000) of semi-finished steel. The kind of steel which can only be used by the domestic steel industry (slabs and billets). This is the biggest line item when looking at the U.S. Department of Commerce import license data for the month of March.

Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG) is another product growing despite AD/CVD determinations being found against some of the main foreign suppliers.

When looking at hot rolled the numbers are lower than the 12-month moving average. Cold rolled is running at the 12-month moving average with galvanized just slightly above the 12MMA and just below the 3MMA. Galvalume is below both the 12MMA and 3MMA.

John Packard

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