Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 12% from 213,000 short tons in July to 238,000 tons in August. In comparison, August long products imports in 2012 were 197,000 tons, in 2011 190,000 tons, in 2010 249,000 tons, in 2009 125,000 tons, in 2008 232,000 tons, and finally in 2007 347,000 tons.
You might also be interested in the change in rebar imports over time due to the recent rebar trade case: August 2013 rebar import licenses were 113,000 tons compared to import actuals in 2012 of 58,000 tons, in 2011 54,000 tons, in 2010 61,000 tons, in 2009 24,000 tons, in 2008 83,000 tons and in 2007 116,000 tons. In fact, higher rebar import licenses drove the overall rise this August due to higher licenses from Turkey. Imports of all other long products except for Structural Angles & Channels fell.
Mid-month September long products imports licenses as reported September 17th were 175,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month September imports will be higher than August’s.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 3% from 678,000 short tons in July to 701,000 tons in August. August flat products imports in 2012 were 695,000 tons, in 2011 639,000 tons, in 2010 468,000 tons, and in 2009 353,000 tons.
Hot dip galvanized and cold rolled imports both rose by about 30%, with most of the hot dip galvanized increase coming from India and the cold rolled increase coming mainly from Korea and China. Hot rolled imports, on the other hand, showed a 10% decline with drops from Australia and Canada.
I will update the spreadsheet below to show mid-September licenses after the data is published later this month.
China crude steel production was 65.5 million metric tonnes in July, 6% higher than in July 2012. Year-to-July production was 454.6 million tonnes, 9% higher than year-to-July production in 2012.
Comparing consecutive months, July production was 1% higher than June production, but due to the longer month of July, average daily production in July was 2% lower.
In addition, China’s net finished steel exports were 3.97 million tonnes, 26% higher than in July 2012 but 6% lower than in June 2013.
Worldsteel published July’s global crude steel production on August 20th. World crude steel production was 132.3 million metric tonnes, 2.9% higher than in July 2012 and 1.0% higher than in June 2013.
Chinese production increased by 3.8 million tonnes (+6%) between July 2012 and July 2013 to reach 65.5 million tonnes but the month on month average daily production was actually 2.2% lower from June to July 2013. Taiwan and India’s production increased by over 0.3 million tonnes year-on-year but South Korean production declined by 0.35 million tonnes. Production in the European Union 27 countries fell by about 0.5 million tonnes (worldsteel doesn’t publish Romanian figures this year so we don’t know the exact change) with significantly lower production compared to July 2012 from Italy, Germany, France and Poland.
As usual, all the data for July 2013 (and plenty of prior years) are ready to be thoroughly analyzed in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Based on reported import licenses (and after last month’s 34% drop), US long products imports were essentially flat, dropping by less than 0.5% to 238,000 short tons between June and July. In comparison, July long products imports were 166,000 tons in 2012, 180,000 tons in 2011, 232,000 tons in 2010, 104,000 tons in 2009, 270,000 tons in 2008, and 563,000 tons in 2007.
A rise in wire rod imports of about 40,000 tons counteracted a fall in rebar imports of about the same amount. Wire rod imports increased from a number of countries including Brazil, Japan, China and the UK while rebar imports declined from Turkey. Parallel flange sections and Structural Angles & Channels imports fell but imports of Merchant Bar, Light Shapes, and All Other Structural Shapes rose.
I will update the spreadsheet below to include mid-August license data after the figures are published this Tuesday.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 5% from 607,000 short tons in June to 636,000 tons in July. July flat products imports in 2012 were 798,000 tons, in 2011 830,000 tons, in 2010 600,000 tons, and in 2009 291,000 tons.
The change was due to higher hot rolled imports of almost 50,000 tons with significant increases from Korea, Mexico and Japan. Cut plate and cold rolled imports both declined by about 10% and hot dip galvanized imports were flat.
I will update the spreadsheet below to show mid-August licenses after the data is published later on in the month.
