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    February 15, 2019

    Semi-Finished Steels Represent One-Third of February Licenses

    Written by Brett Linton

    February imports are trending high, close to 3 million net tons, according to U.S. Department of Commerce license data released Feb. 12. However, looking at the data more closely, the domestic steel mills continue to bring in a tremendous amount of semi-finished steels (slabs, billets – but most are slabs). The mills are on pace to import 1 million net tons of slabs during the month of February if the trend continues. It used to be that one-quarter of the imports were slabs; this month it is on pace to be one-third of the total.

    Among the other items, hot rolled is continuing to trend lower, coiled plate is trending lower, and cold rolled is trending lower as is galvanized. The only products trending above their 12-month and 3-month moving averages are oil country tubular goods (OCTG), Galvalume/Aluminized (close to the averages) and cut plate.

    Brett Linton

    Brett Linton is a digital operations analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

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