Flat Rolled Imports by District of Entry, Source - June 2018

Here are some examples to illustrate why this information can be actionable:  Total coiled plate imports in June year to date were up by 21 percent. New Orleans received 129,000 tons in 2016 and 13,000 tons in 2017, but has been completely shut out in the first half of 2018. Total cold rolled coil imports were down by 23 percent in June year to date, but San Francisco was up by 643 percent, almost all that 2018 tonnage being from Vietnam.  Total other metallic coated, which is mainly Galvalume imports, were down by 25 percent, but Tampa was up by 93 percent and Chicago was down by 55 percent. The discrepancy between the change at the national and local levels is why we think it’s important for both market understanding and negotiating position to know what’s going on in your own backyard.

The table included here is a small part of the detailed analysis of the hot rolled sheet tonnage. The bar graph shows the tonnage of hot rolled that entered the top 10 districts in June year to date for 2017 and 2018 ranked by 2018 tonnage. Detroit had the most volume in 2018 and was up by the most year to date.

We are now also producing reports for the same six flat rolled products that consolidate the district reports into seven regions. These reports are even more dramatic in highlighting the differences between the change in import volumes at the national and local levels.

The data in these detailed reports is compiled from tariff and trade data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Our national level import reports are sourced from U.S. Department of Commerce, Enforcement and Compliance, aka the Steel Import Monitoring System. In the development of these reports by district and source country, we have discovered that the SIMA data for HRC and CRC contains some high-alloy steels such as stainless and tool steel, which have been misclassified at the ports. These alloy steels are not included in our detailed reports, which results in a small discrepancy between the two data sets, for CRC in particular and for HRC to a lesser degree.