Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports declined 5% from 690,000 short tons in April to 656,000 tons in May. In comparison, May 2010 flat products imports were 639,000 tons and May 2009 imports were 350,000 tons.
The drop was driven by lower hot dip galvanized and cold rolled imports. Hot dip imports dropped by 36,000 tons due to lower imports from India, Korea, and Taiwan, while cold rolled imports were down by 18,000 tons mainly due to reduced imports from Korea and Brazil.
I will update the spreadsheet below when the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-June license data.
worldsteelpublished April 2011’s crude steel production last Friday. Monthly world crude steel production declined 2.2% between March and April but daily crude production increased 1.1% due to the short April month. Countries with significant production declines included Austria and Slovakia which both dropped by over 10%, as well as Japan which fell by 8%. Poland stood out, in contrast, with an increase of 12%. As usual, all the data for April 2011 (and for a number of prior years) is in the Nerds spreadsheet below:
Based on reported import licenses, US long product imports declined just 1% from 239,000 short tons in March to 238,000 tons in April. In comparison, April 2010 imports were 273,000 tons, April 2009 were 97,000, April 2008 were 440,000 tons, and April 2007 were 309,000 tons.
Rebar imports rose by 25,000 tons due mainly to a rise of imports from Turkey, but the effect on total imports was counteracted by a 17,000 ton decline in imports of All Other Structural Sections (here due to a decline from Turkey and Luxembourg). Imports of all other product categories declined except for Structual Angles and Channels.
May licenses reported up to May 17th were 128,000 tons which is likely to mean that full-month May imports won’t show a big change.
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 24% from 621,000 short tons in March to 768,000 tons in April. In comparison, April 2010 flats imports were 558,000 tons and April 2009 were 433,000 tons.
Hot rolled imports were up by 116,000 tons or 39% due to rising imports from countries including Korea, Australia, Russia and the Netherlands. Hot dip galvanized imports rose by 54,000 tons or 48% with significant increases from India, China and Korea. Cold rolled imports, on the other hand, declined by 26%.
I will update the spreadsheet below as soon as the next licenses are reported in order to show mid-May license data.
ArcelorMittal announced Q1 results today. See the press release here. Like other top performing companies tracked on the Nerds of Steel Earnings spreadsheet, ArcelorMittal achieved EBITDA per ton over $100 in Q1. The company’s actual EBITDA was $106, up from $80 in Q4 2010.
First quarter 2011 results for three more companies have been added to the Nerds of Steel Earnings Spreadsheet. Links to each company’s earnings announcement can be found by clicking on the company name below.
As has been the case consistently, these three companies performed very well in Q1, reporting higher EBITDA per ton than the other companies we track. All three companies saw EBITDA per ton rise relative to Q4 2010. For Posco and Ternium, EBITDA per ton rose $60 vs Q4 2011, to $189 and $164 respectively. Gerdau’s EBTDA rose by $25 to $123 in Q1.
