SMU Data and Models

New SMU Report Identifies Hot Rolled Imports by Product Detail
Written by Peter Wright
July 17, 2018
Premium subscribers to Steel Market Update have access to reports on SMU’s website that break out the import tonnage into district of entry and source nation for six sheet and plate categories. SMU has now developed reports that drill down to provide more product detail on hot rolled and cold rolled coil. We report these in alternate months. This month we will focus on hot rolled. Our August report will cover cold rolled.
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, SMU has taken the import tonnage of HRC and broken it down into sheet and strip, and whether it was in coil or leveled. Then it separates three gauge ranges, it identifies how much was P&O, how much was high strength and how much had patterns in relief.
Table 1 (click to enlarge) shows a monthly and year-to-date summary for each of the above conditions.
Figure 1 breaks the year-to-date tonnage down into commercial HR sheet, pickled and oiled, high strength and sheet with embossed patterns.
Figure 2 breaks the year-to-date tonnage down into three gauge ranges—light, medium and heavy.
Figure 3 breaks hot rolled sheet imports into coiled and leveled tonnage.
Figure 4 breaks hot rolled strip imports into coiled and leveled tonnage.
Table 2 (click to enlarge) is a small part of a sheet that shows detail for every region in the U.S. and is available in the premium section of our website. It shows the product detail of hot rolled sheet and strip imports by district of entry. For example, the largest tonnage item entering Chicago in the first five months of 2018 was light gauge coiled sheet. Pointing to another example, if a steel buyer wanted to know how much light gauge, high strength, pickled and oiled coiled sheet had come into Cleveland year to date, the answer is 1,737 metric tons.
In August, we will present the same analysis for cold rolled sheet and strip through June.
Note: This data was accessed through the USITC database. All steel traded globally is classified by the Harmonized Tariff System (HTS). The HTS code has 10 digits. The first six are globally universal. The last four are used at the discretion of the nations involved in a particular transaction and are the basis of this report. The way the U.S. uses the last four digits to define products may be different from other nations’ product classification.

Peter Wright
Read more from Peter WrightLatest in SMU Data and Models

SMU’s April at a glance
SMU’s Monthly Review provides a summary of our key steel market metrics for the previous month, with the latest data updated through April 30.

SMU Survey: Steel Buyers’ Sentiment Indices see modest recovery
SMU’s Buyers’ Sentiment Indices both improved this week, reversing the decline seen two weeks ago.

SMU Survey: Sheet and plate lead times flatten out
Sheet and plate lead times held steady this week, according to buyers responding to the latest SMU market survey. This week we saw little change from mid-April levels, with just one product (Galvalume) showing any significant movement.

SMU Survey: More mills willing to deal on sheet prices, less so on plate
Nearly two thirds of the steel buyers who responded to this week’s SMU survey say domestic mills are negotiable on spot prices. This increasing flexibility marks a significant shift from the firmer stance mills held in recent months.

SMU Survey: Sheet lead times ease further, plate hits one-year high
Steel buyers responding to this week’s SMU market survey report a continued softening in sheet lead times. Meanwhile, plate lead times have moderately extended and are at a one-year high.