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    February Foreign Steel Imports Trending Toward Lowest Level in Years

    Written by Brett Linton


    The U.S. Department of Commerce released license data through the first 13 days of February that “suggests” foreign steel imports could be at the lowest levels seens in many years. The trend is for imports to barely exceed 2 million net tons, almost one-third lower than the 3 million tons that were reported for January. The U.S. imported 2.7 million tons of foreign steel during February 2017 (2.2 million in 2016).

    If February steel imports do end up around 2.1 million tons, it will be the lowest level for a month since December 2011 when the U.S. imported 2,064,143 tons.

    Brett Linton

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