Total steel imports into the US moved up by 2.8pc to 3.01mn nt (2.73mn mt) in July 2021 compared to the prior month’s final data while finished steel imports rose by 0.5pc to 2.06mn nt in the same period according to Census Bureau data shared by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
In January-July 2021, total steel imports increased by 17.4pc to 17.73mn nt as finished steel imports moved up by 20.6pc to 12.09mn nt compared to the same time frame in 2020.
In the first seven months, hot rolled sheets showed considerable increase rising by 76pc, plates in coils were up 52pc, cut lengths plates increased by 44pc, sheets and strip all other metallic coatings rose by 41pc, wire rods moved up by 40pc, wire drawn grew by 22pc, hot rolled bars ticked up by 17pc, heavy structural shapes moved up by 16pc, tin plate was up 13pc, sheets and strip hot-dipped galvanized was up 12pc and cold rolled sheet rose by 12pc against the same period in 2020.
The most sought after finished steel imports in July compared with the previous month include sheets and strip all other metallic coatings that were up 48pc, sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped which rose 29pc, mechanical tubing increased by 25pc, tin plate climbed by 16pc, heavy structural shapes were up 14pc and cut lengths plates moved up by 11pc.
South Korea remains the largest offshore steel provider for the first seven months of 2021 with shipments from this location totaling 1.62mn nt, up 27pc followed by Japan climbing 22pc to 590,000nt, Turkey increased 29pc to 485,000nt, Germany moved up 14pc to 480,000nt and Taiwan was up 17pc to 434,000nt, all compared to January-July 2020.
In July, South Korea supplied the largest volume of finished steel imports, increasing its cargoes by 7pc to 293,000nt compared with June’s final numbers. Next came Vietnam up 165pc at 101,000nt, Taiwan fell 8pc to 77,000nt, Germany fell 27pc to 70,000nt and Japan dropped 44pc to 67,000nt.