U.S. Steel Imports Plunge 13.8 Percent

Total U.S. imports of steel declined 13.8 percent to 854,000 tons in August compared with 991,000 tons in July, based on preliminary reporting. August 2009 imports were 66.5 percent below levels of August 2008, the U.S. Commerce Department reported.

Year-to-date (January through August 2009), steel imports decreased 51 percent compared with 2008; or from 21.4 million tons in 2008 to 10.5 million tons during the same period in 2009. Imports of semi-finished products decreased by 86.2 percent in August 2009 compared with August 2008. Year-to-date, semi-finished imports dropped from 4.4 million tons in 2008 to 736,000 tons in 2009, an 83.4 percent decrease, based on preliminary reporting.

"Import arrivals declined in August due to weak market conditions in the period three to five months prior for non-NAFTA imports", said David Phelps, president of the American Institute for International Steel. "With the large decline in arrivals from Mexico and small decline from Canada, it is clear that August also was not a strong month for the U.S. market," Phelps said. "We remain hopeful that conditions will improve as we move into the fourth quarter."

U.S. steel import data for August "mirrors the economic uncertainty faced by metalformers and other manufacturers," said William E. Gaskin, president of the Precision Metalforming Association.

"Inventories of flat rolled carbon held by metals service centers were reported to be only 1.7 months of supply in the most recent report by the Metal Service Center Institute. U.S. mills have started to bring more capacity on line, but clearly supply and demand are not yet balanced, so a modest increase in imports may help steel consumers avoid shortages or longer delivery times. The majority of our members have yet to see widespread signs of lasting recovery in the manufacturing sector. In fact, many suspect that any renewed activity they are seeing simply relates to replenishing inventories that were all but cleared out during the last several months of economic contraction,” Gaskin said.

Contact Alan M. Field at afield@joc.com.