SMU Imports Report: Cut-to-Length Plate

National level import reports do a good job of measuring the overall market pressure caused by the imports of individual products. The downside is that there are huge regional differences. We believe that buyers and sellers should have an understanding of the regional differences. For example, year to date through April, total cut-to-length plate imports were up by 1.4 percent, but the Great Lakes region was down by 32.3 percent and the Gulf region was up by 166.7 percent.

Figure 1 shows the year-to-date tonnage into each region and the huge variation between them. Figure 1a presents the same data as a pie chart.

Figure 2 shows the year-to-date change for each of seven regions and the change at the national level. Volume declined this year through April in five regions and increased in two regions.

Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6 show the history of CTL plate imports by region since March 2013 on a three-month moving average basis. Note, the Y axis scales are not the same.

Regions are compiled from the following districts (we will report on tonnage by district and source nation next month):

Atlantic North—Baltimore, Boston, New York, Ogdensburg, Philadelphia, Portland ME, St. Albans and Washington, D.C.

Atlantic South—Charleston, Charlotte, Miami, Norfolk and Savannah.

Great Lakes—Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Duluth, Great Falls, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pembina.

Gulf—Houston, New Orleans, Mobile, San Juan, St. Louis and Tampa.

Pacific North—Anchorage, Columbia Snake, San Francisco and Seattle.

Pacific South—Los Angeles and San Diego.

Rio Grande Valley—Laredo and El Paso.