US November steel imports off 13.6% on month as South Korean supply plummets

02 January 2018

US steel imports from Canada and Brazil, America’s two biggest foreign suppliers, both rose from October to November, but overall imports of 2.47 million mt were down 13.6%, based on preliminary November figures compared with final October figures from the US Census Bureau.

An analysis by S&P Global Platts on Thursday revealed that while imports from Canada rose 2.9% to 496,963 mt and imports from Brazil were up 39.9% to 454,129 mt, imports from another major supplier, South Korea, dropped by 46% to 190,595 mt, putting it fourth behind Mexico, down 8.5% to 238,511 mt.

Brazil’s exports to the US boomed on the strength of semi-finished steel, which is purchased by US steel producers. Those exports increased roughly 50% from October’s final count of 244,050 mt to the preliminary November total of 365,166 mt.

By product, US imports from NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico were relatively status quo, but the big drop in imports from South Korea was due to sizable declines in shipments of oil country tubular goods, line pipe, sheet products, coiled plate, heavy sections and structural pipe and tube.

The biggest gainer from October to November was the Netherlands, whose exports to the US increased 124% to just over 100,000 st, its highest monthly total by far this year. More than a third of the shipments were tinplate, the volume of which doubled from October. Other products with large gains were sheet products and coiled plate, all of which at least doubled.

Source: PLATTS