Steel Products Prices North America

Other Metallic Coated Imports by Port and Country of Origin

September 17, 2013

Other metallic coated (mainly Galvalume) imports July 2013 and YTD by source and port of entry.

This is the fourth of an expanded series of analyses, exclusive to the Steel Market Update that is designed to provide a much more comprehensive view of actual flat rolled steel volume by product. This will enable a steel buyer or manager to see exactly what came into his immediate vicinity and where it came from. This series of reports includes hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized (HDG) and other metallic coated. We will publish these in the same format in four consecutive issues of the Steel Market Update. All volumes are in short tons.

In Tables 1 and 2 the smaller volume sources and ports of entry have been removed to make the tables more readable but the totals are correct and include the smaller volumes.

Total OMC sheet tonnage in July was 58,007 up from 46,652 in June and by 44 percent from July last year. Table 1 shows the detail by port of entry and country of origin. The Gulf ports received the most tonnage at 21,363 tons of which 15,891 tons entered Houston, up from 8,353 tons in June. The majority of the Houston tonnage in July was from Korea and Taiwan. Gulf tonnage was up by 44 percent from July last year. 15,441 Mexican tons crossed the border at Laredo. Here is a link to Table 2.

In 2013 YTD through July, 398,342 tons entered the US, down by 3.8 percent from 2012. The Gulf ports received 35 percent of the total YTD tonnage with 140,035 but this was down from 196,747 tons in YTD 2012. Mexican tonnage through Laredo increased from 44,642 tons in 2012 to 82,148 tons in 2013. Taiwan was the most prolific supplier in 2013 through July with 145,994 tons, down by 16.3 percent from last year. Most of the Taiwanese tonnage came in through Houston, New Orleans and Savannah. Tonnage from Chine YTD is down by 52.3 percent year over year. Table 2 gives detail of tons by port of entry for 2013 through July.

Volume YTD by source and by district of entry are shown graphically in Figures 1 and 2. The green bars indicate the final 2012 tonnage in each case. Countries and ports are ranked by the 2013 YTD tonnage. Figure 1 shows that tonnage from Taiwan and China is down this year as tonnage from Mexico, Korea and Japan has increased. Figure 2 shows the tonnage by port. Houston and New Orleans are down this year. Tonnage into Laredo, Savannah and Philadelphia has increased.