Steel Products Prices North America

Flat Product Imports Surpass Six-Year High in November

Written by David Schollaert

January 15, 2022

U.S flat products import volumes in November were at their highest level in more than six years, and while import data for December has not yet been finalized, the U.S. likely imported at least 1.2 million metric tons of flat products last month, based on import license data from the Commerce Department.

November’s import volume tipped the scales at 1.394 million metric tons, the highest pandemic-era total, and expanding for the seventh straight month. The figure was nearly 10% above October’s sum and practically three times more than the total imported during the same year-ago period.

November’s volumes were more than double the 631,833 metric tons imported during the pre-pandemic period of November 2019. Year-to-date, U.S. imports of flat products totaled 11.024 million metric tons, more than 50% greater than 2020’s total, and nearly matching the 11.365 million metric tons imported during the same 11-month period in 2018.

FlatProductsImports NOV21 Figure1

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is a senior analyst for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. Based in CRU’s Pittsburgh office, David can be reached at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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