Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports dropped 12% from 273,000 short tons in April to 239,000 tons in May. This can be compared to long products imports of 98,000 tons in May 2009, 242,000 tons in May 2008 and 591,000 in May 2007.
The decline in May was driven by a 48,000 ton reduction in rebar imports mainly due to lower Turkish imports. In contrast, wire rod imports increased by 10,000 tons and beams imports increased by 9,000 tons.
Import licenses reported up to June 15th were 117,000 tons which indicates that full-month June imports should be slightly lower than May imports. Licenses reported so far this month for beams are down for a number of countries but particularly for Luxembourg.