SMU Data and Models

Drill Down of Cold Rolled Imports into Product Detail
Written by Peter Wright
May 20, 2019
Using U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) data, SMU has taken the import tonnage of cold rolled sheet and broken it down into coil and leveled, then it breaks out four thickness ranges and identifies how much was full hard, annealed and high strength.
Through March 2019, of the total cold rolled sheet and strip imports into the U.S., only 2.5 percent was strip. By gauge range the sheet broke down to: 26 percent < 0.5mm, 30 percent ≥ 0.5 to 1.0 mm, 43.5 percent > 1 to 3mm thick and 0.5 percent > 3 mm.
Table 1 is a summary for 2019 through March of cold rolled imports showing gauge ranges and condition and the annual year-to-date total for sheet. Strip is itemized separately at the bottom of the table.
Figure 1 breaks the year-to-date cold rolled sheet tonnage down into the four gauge ranges that are identified in the HTS codes.
Figure 2 does the same thing for condition. It identifies the volume of full hard, annealed, high strength and high strength annealed. Year-to-date March, 49.5 percent was full hard, 41.4 percent was annealed, 1.7 percent was high strength and 7.5 percent was high strength annealed.
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 recover
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.