Steel Products Prices North America

March Steel Import Trends by Product

Written by John Packard

March 24, 2015

March imports are trending toward another very large month. We expect that when the final numbers are released, the month will come in about 3.6 to 3.8 million net tons which would be in line with our 12 month moving average of 3.7 million net tons. Last March imports were 3.2 million net tons. Note that March 2015 data is based on license data through the 24th and projected out through the entire month, and February 2015 data is preliminary census data. Therefore, the March figures are subject to change.

We thought our readers would enjoy taking a look at a number of products from the perspective of the top five exporting countries (top five as of the month of February 2015). In each table we show their exports for the month of March 2014, then February 2015 and their trend for March 2015. (We take license data through the 24th and expand it at the daily license request rate over the entire month to determine the March 2015 number. This number is not to be considered the countries final tally but only where we see them trending for the month).

Then we show 2015 tonnage year to date, the one month change (February to the projected March) and the 12 month change from one year ago (March).

SMU Note: Russia was a major exporter of hot rolled coil to the United States during 2014. As of December 2014 the Russian hot rolled Suspension Agreement was cancelled which has effectively ended HRC shipments to the U.S. Also, the Chinese are also excluded from shipping hot rolled to the United States.

In cold rolled the two big players are China and Canada with Canada moving in the opposite direction from China. Brazil is growing their tonnage as is the United Kingdom (England).

Galvanized has three countries showing significant growth in exports of the product to the United States: China, South Korea and India.

When it comes to Galvalume, the only country on the list not growing exports is Mexico. Brazil was a non-factor one year ago and is beginning to blossom once again as a major AZ player.

For our plate fans, South Korea is at the top of the list and Turkey is making quite a strong move (apparently at the expense of Mexico and the domestic steel mills).

John Packard

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