Steel Products Prices North America

November Steel Imports Trending Below 3 Million Tons

Written by John Packard

November 15, 2018

The U.S. Department of Commerce has released import license data for the months of October and November through the 13th of the month. October foreign steel imports are expected to reach 3 million net tons on the back of almost 900,000 net tons of semi-finished steels (mostly slabs going to the domestic steel mills). It is still very early to predict the final November tonnage, which at the moment it is running 200,000 tons lower than October.

This is our first report regarding November, which is trending toward 2.8 million net tons. This is slightly lower than the 12-month moving average, but in line with the 3-month moving average.

When looking at finished steels (minus semi’s), the trend for November is to be in line with October’s levels at 2.1 million net tons.

Oil country tubular goods (OCTG) imports are trending in line with what we saw for September and October.

Hot rolled is trending 10,000 to 20,000 tons lower than the previous two months. Cold rolled is essentially flat. Galvanized for November is running about the same as the 12- and 3-month moving averages.

Galvalume is surging, however, which is common for this time of the year. AZ is trending to over 100,000 net tons for the month of November after being fairly consistent in the mid to upper 70’s.

Coiled plate is trending lower, while cut plate is running close to the 12-month moving average.

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John Packard

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