Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports fell 4% from 212,000 short tons in October to 203,000 tons in November. In comparison, November long products imports in 2011 were 116,000 tons, in 2010 189,000 tons, in 2009 99,000 tons, and in 2008 173,000 tons.
Driving the overall fall was a significant drop in wire rod and parallel flange sections (PFS) imports, only partially counteracted by a rise in rebar imports. Wire rod imports fell due to lower imports from Brazil, the UK, and Turkey while PFS imports fell from Korea, Spain and Russia.
I will update the spreadsheet below as soon as this week’s licenses are reported (possibly today) in order to show mid-month December license results.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell 2% from 736,000 short tons in October to 723,000 tons in November. November flat product imports in 2011 were 614,000 tons, in 2010 513,000 tons, in 2009 423,000 tons, and in 2008 641,000 tons.
While the overall decline was 2%, cut plate imports declined by 40,000 tons or 40% due to lower volumes from many countries including Germany, the Ukraine, Japan, Canada, and Italy. In contrast, cold rolled imports increased by almost 30,000 tons or 27% with a significant increase from China.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-month December license results.
China crude steel production was 59.10 million tonnes in October, 8.1% higher than in the same month last year. Year-to-date Chinese crude production was 593.66 million tonnes, 2.0% higher than year-to-October 2011 output.
Comparing consecutive months, October production was 1.15 million tonnes higher than September production, but due to the longer October month, the average daily production rate was 1.3% lower. In addition, China’s net exports in October were 3.81 million tonnes, 0.14 million tonnes lower than net exports in September.
Worldsteel published October’s global crude steel production on November 20th. World crude steel production was 126.1 million metric tonnes, 2.0% higher than in October 2011 for the 62 countries reporting. Average daily production declined by 1.5% compared to September but due to the longer October month, total production rose from 123.9 to 126.1 million tonnes for consecutive months.
China’s production increased by 8.1% compared to October 2011 and India’s production rose by 5.9%. In contrast, Japan’s production declined 6.7% year-on-year and US production dropped 3.3%. Finally, EU27 production was down 6.4% compared to October 2011.
As usual, all the data for October 2012 (and for a number of prior years) is generously shared in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 22% from 198,000 short tons in September to 241,000 tons in October. In comparison, October long products imports in 2011 were 149,000 tons, in 2010 179,000 tons, in 2009 210,000 tons, and in 2008 211,000 tons.
An increase in rebar and parallel flange sections drove the overall rise. This was due to rising rebar imports from Turkey and rising parallel flange sections imports from Spain, Russia and Korea.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-month November license results.
Gerdau and Ternium posted Q3 2012 financial results recently. Links to the respective press releases can be found below.
- Gerdau results can be found here
- Ternium results are here
Ternium again turned in a strong performance relative to the companies tracked in the
Nerds of Steel earnings spreadsheet, although the company’s EBITDA per ton in the third quarter, $136, was lower than the $146 reported in Q2. Despite the drop Ternium still reported the highest EBITDA per ton among the companies we track. Gerdau also reported lower EBITDA in the third quarter, $97 per ton, which was down from $120 in Q2.
