Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 21% from 639,000 short tons in May to 506,000 tons in June. This can be compared to 252,000 tons of flat products imports in June 2009.
The decline was driven by hot rolled imports which dropped by 107,000 tons due to lower imports from a number of countries including Korea, Germany, Canada, and Australia. In addition, cold rolled imports declined by 18%, hot dip galvanized imports by 8%, and cut plate imports by 1%.
Flat products import licenses for July reported up to July 20th were 400,000 tons which means that full-month July imports should be significantly higher than June imports and even higher than May imports of 639,000 tons.