Steel Products Prices North America
Third Quarter Draws Big Jump in Semi-finished Imports
Written by John Packard
August 8, 2019
On the surface, steel imports appear to have increased substantially in July, based on license data from the Commerce Department. While the figures are preliminary, they put total imports for July at 3.5 million tons, a million tons above average.
Skewing the data are the licenses for semi-finished imports, which registered about 1.6 million tons. July is the first month of the third quarter and buyers were quick to secure needed slabs from nations with quarterly quota limits, notably Brazil. Semi-finished imports can be expected to recede again in September and October.
July imports of finished steel, at 1.9 million tons, were up over the prior two months. Every product category saw an increase from June led by plate, galvanized and hot rolled steels. Compared with the same month last year, however, imports in almost every product category were down substantially in July. Finished steel imports in July 2018 totaled nearly 2.2 million tons.
Trading companies tell SMU that they expect flat rolled imports to diminish further in the late third and fourth quarters.
Below are three sample graphs showing the history of foreign steel imports through final June data. You will need to view the graphs on our website to use their interactive features; you can do so by clicking here. If you need assistance logging in to or navigating the website, please contact us at info@SteelMarketUpdate.com.
John Packard
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