Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports increased 27% from 335,000 short tons in November to 424,000 tons in December. Long products imports in December 2014 were 353,000 tons and in December 2013 they were 280,000 tons. The increase in longs imports between November and December 2015 was driven mainly by higher wire rod volumes from a number of countries including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, South Africa, the UK and Spain.
Long products imports for the full year 2015 were 9% higher than in 2014, driven by a 40% increase in rebar imports and although imports of every other product fell between 2014 and 2015 (the most important in volume being a 5% drop in wire rod imports).
Long products import licenses for January as reported mid-month on January 19th were 299,000 tons, which is likely to mean that there won’t be a big volume change between December and January imports.
SIMA US long products import licenses and import actuals
2012 to 2016
short tons
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products import rose 12% from 843,000 short tons in November to 947,000 tons in December. Flat products imports in December 2014 were 1,333,000 tons and in December 2013 they were 738,000 tons. Imports of flat products for the full year 2015 were 7% lower than in 2014, driven by a 7% decline in hot roll imports, a 19% drop in cut plate imports, and an 8% fall in cold roll imports. In contrast, hot dip galvanized imports rose 1% between 2014 and 2015.
The 12% increase in flats imports between November and December 2015 was mainly due to higher hot roll imports from Australia, Korea, and Brazil, and despite some lower import volumes from Japan and Turkey. Cut plate imports also rose in December, but cold roll and hot dip galvanized imports fell.
I will update the chart below to show mid-January licenses when the figures are published the week of January 18th.
SIMA US import licenses and actuals, flat products
December 2012 to December 2015
short tons
Worldsteel reported Chinese crude steel production at 63.3 million metric tonnes in November, 1.6% lower than in November 2014. Chinese crude output for the first 11 months of 2015 was 2.1% lower than in the same period last year.
China’s net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in November were 8.7 million tonnes, 1.2% higher than net exports in November 2014, but 15.1% lower than the record level reached in September 2015. Net exports for the first eleven months of 2015 were 28.3% higher than in the first eleven months of 2014.
China monthly crude steel production
January 2005 to November 2015
thousand metric tonnes
Worldsteel published November’s world crude steel production today. World crude steel production was 126.8 million metric tonnes, 4.1% lower than in November 2014.
China accounted for 50% of world production in November with output of 63.3M tonnes, down 1.6% compared to November 2014. Elsewhere in Asia, significant changes include a 22.8% decline in crude production in Taiwan and a 4.7% fall in Japan. In the Americas, US production was down 15.6% compared to last November and Mexico showed a 9.5% output drop. In addition, production in the European Union fell 7.5% with significant declines of 32.6% in the UK and 14.7% in France. Turkey also reduced crude output compared to last November by 7.2%.
All the data for November 2015 and for a number of prior years can be found in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports fell 29% from 531,000 short tons in October to 375,000 tons in November. Long products imports in November 2014 were 373,000 tons and in November 2013 they were 304,000 tons. Longs imports for the first 11 months of 2015 were 9% higher than in the same period last year.
Lower rebar and wire rod imports drove the drop in total longs imports between October and November. Rebar imports fell mainly from Turkey and wire rod imports fell from a number of countries including Turkey, Malaysia and South Korea. Another significant change in November was a strong rise in light shapes imports from China.
Long products import licenses for December as reported mid-month on December 15th were 265,000 tons, which is likely to mean that full-month December imports will higher than November’s.
SIMA US long products import licenses and import actuals
2012 to 2015
short tons
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell by 1% from 930,000 short tons in October to 922,000 tons in November. Flat products imports in November 2014 were 1,329,000 tons and in November 2013 they were 676,000 tons. Imports of flat products from January to November 2015 were 4% lower than in the same period last year.
There was little change in total flat products imports between October and November because cut plate and cold roll imports rose by about the same amount as hot roll and hot dip galvanized imports fell. This is the opposite of what happened in October when imports showed little change due to lower cut plate and cold roll imports and higher hot roll and hot dip imports. In November, the largest volume increase came from cut plate, where imports rose mainly from Korea, China and Brazil, while the largest volume decline came form hot dip galvanized, where imports fell mainly from India, Taiwan and Brazil.
I will update the chart below to show mid-December licenses when the figures are published the week of December 14th.
SIMA US import licenses and actuals, flat products
November 2012 to November 2015
short tons
