According to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), with reference to preliminary data from the US Customs Service, in October 2018, national steel imports amounted to 2.96 million tons, which is 3.7 per cent more than in the same period of the previous year and 44.2 percent more than in September.
The main reason for this growth was the supply of slabs from Brazil, the volume of which reached a record level — almost 834 thousand tons compared to 91.1 thousand tons in September. With this, the Brazilian companies exhausted the quota for importing semi-finished products to the United States this year.
Imports of finished steel products to the United States meanwhile amounted to about 1.805 million tons in October, which is 21.4 per cent less than in the same month of 2017. As AISI recognizes, the share of foreign products in the American market of rolled products, pipes and hardware decreased to about 20 per cent in October and 21 per cent at the end of ten months. Foreign suppliers over the past year have retained their positions only in the sectors of hot-rolled coils, thick-sheet steel and galvanized steel.
In total, in the first ten months of 2018, the United States received about 26.7 million tons of foreign steel, of which just over 20.0 million tons of finished products. This is respectively 10.6 and 13.4 per cent less than in the same period of the last year.
Russian steel exports to the United States amounted to 159.4 thousand tons in October, which is 9.2 per cent more than in September, and 35.5 per cent less than in October 2017. More than 99 per cent of supply of Russian steel products fell on slabs and various categories of pipes in October.
