Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports rose 25% from 313,000 short tons in February to 385,000 tons in March. In comparison, long products imports in February in 2011 were 196,000 tons, in 2010 206,000 tons, in 2009 115,000 tons, and in 2008 330,000 tons.
The overall climb was driven by a 54,000-ton increase in rebar imports mainly due to higher imports from Turkey but also from Mexico. Imports of all other long products categories increased except light shapes and structural angles & channels.
April long products import licenses reported up to April 17th were 156,000 tons, which is likely to mean that full-month April imports will be lower than March’s.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell 8% from 720,000 short tons in February to 663,000 tons in March. In comparison, March flat products imports in 2011 were 621,000 tons and in 2010 they were 640,000 tons.
Hot rolled imports fell by 64,000 tons, mainly due to lower imports from Korea and India, and hot dip galvanized imports were down 21,000 tons, with lower Indian imports again driving the fall. In contrast, cut plate and cold rolled imports both rose.
I will update the spreadsheet below when licenses are updated next week to show mid-April licenses data.
worldsteel published February 2012’s world crude steel production on Tuesday. For the 59 countries reporting to worldsteel, production dropped by 2.5% between January and February to 119 million metric tonnes. In comparison, February 2011 world crude steel production for these countries was 117 million tonnes.
Crude steel production in China dropped by 850,000 tonnes in February, and drops of over 300,000 tonnes took place in the US, India, Turkey, Russia, and South Korea. Production in Germany and Italy increased by just above 200,000 tonnes, but these were the only countries showing significant climbs.
As usual, all the data for February 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 declined 8% from 295,000 short tons in January to 273,000 tons in February. In comparison, February long products imports in 2011 were 196,000 tons and in 2010 they were 206,000 tons.
After a strong rise in January, rebar imports dropped by 43,000 tons mainly due to lower Turkish imports. However, the decline in rebar imports together with that of a number of other long products categories was partially counteracted by higher wire rod imports from countries such as Turkey, Venezuela, Brazil, the UK, and Japan.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-March import license data.
Based on reported import licenses and after a 31% rise in January, US flat products imports rose 2% from 705,000 short tons in January to 720,000 tons in February. In comparison, February flat products imports in 2011 were 440,000 tons and in 2010 they were 444,000 tons.
While hot dip galvanized imports rose by 47,000 tons and hot roll imports climbed by 20,000 tons, this was counteracted by cold roll imports dropping by 36,000 tons and cut plate imports falling by 17,000 tons. The 39% rise in hot dip galvanized imports was mainly the result of higher imports from India.
I will update the spreadsheet below the week of Monday March 19th in order to show mid-March license data.
worldsteel published January 2012’s world crude steel production last Tuesday. World production increased by 1.8% between December and January to 118 million metric tonnes.
A number of countries increased production by between 200,000 and 350,000 tonnes in January including France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the US and Japan. Counteracting this were production declines in the Africa/Middle East region (worldsteel did not publish many of the individual country results in the region this month) and in Korea.
As usual, all the data for January 2012 (and for a number of prior years) is generously shared in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
