Based on reported import licenses and after a 20% fall in November, US long products imports rose 56% from 116,000 short tons in November to 181,000 tons in December. December imports in 2010 were 171,000 tons, in 2009 166,000 tons, in 2008 178,000 tons, and in 2007 207,000 tons.
Rebar and wire rod imports drove the overall rise. Rebar imports doubled to 72,000 tons due to rising imports from Turkey and wire rod imports increased by 52% due to higher imports from Canada, Brazil, the UK, Spain, and Germany.
January import licenses reported up to January 17th were 164,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month January imports will be significantly higher than December’s.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell 12% from 614,000 short tons in November to 539,000 tons in December. In comparison, December flat products imports in 2010 were 547,000 tons, in 2009 they were 405,000 tons, and in 2008 474,000 tons.
Like in November, imports of all flat products categories declined. However, cut plate imports declined by the highest percentage at 25% or 26,000 tons, due to lower imports from a number of countries including Russia and Germany and despite significant increases from the Ukraine and Turkey. Hot roll imports dropped by 31,000 tons.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-January license data.
worldsteel published November 2011’s world crude steel production last Monday. Average daily production dropped 3% but monthly production declined by 6% (due to the short November month) to 115.5 million metric tonnes.
The 4.8 million-tonne fall in production in China (about 9%) drove the overall decline, but production also declined by over 200,000 tonnes in a number of other countries including Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Germany.
As usual, all the data for 2011 (and for a number of prior years) is generously shared in the Nerds spreadsheet below. Something to scrutinize over the holidays. Wishing everyone a happy 2012. Grow dammit.
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports fell 20% from 149,000 short tons in October to 120,000 tons in November, bringing longs imports back to levels of mid-2009. November imports in 2010 were 189,000 tons, in 2009 99,000 tons, in 2008 173,000 tons, and in 2007 235,000 tons.
A fall in wire rod imports drove the overall drop by declining 22,000 tons due to lower volumes from Brazil, Japan, Korea and Mexico. This was after a rise in October wire rod imports from these same countries (excluding Japan) as noted in my earlier post. Imports of all other long products categories also fell.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-December license data.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports fell 13% from 703,000 short tons in October to 614,000 tons in November. This can be compared to November flat products imports of 513,000 tons in 2010, 423,000 tons in 2009, and 641,000 tons in 2008.
Imports of all flat products categories declined, but hot roll imports drove the overall fall by dropping 17% or 64,000 tons due to lower imports from countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Mexico, and interestingly despite a strong rise in imports from the Netherlands.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-December license data.
worldsteel published October 2011’s world crude steel production last Monday. Monthly production increased by 0.9% but average daily production declined by 2.4% due to the longer month.
October production increased significantly in South Korea (608k tonnes), Japan (591KT), Russia (499KT), and India (200KT), but the rise in these and a few other countries was counteracted by a 2,027KT (~4%) decline in China.
As usual, all the data for 2011 (and for a number of prior years) is generously shared in the Nerds spreadsheet below.
