Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports increased 94% from 465,000 short tons in August, 2020 to 903,000 tons in August, 2021. The rise was mainly due to higher hot rolled imports from Canada, the Netherlands, Egypt and South Korea. Hot dip galvanized imports also rose significantly from Brazil, Mexico, Vietnam and Turkey.
Flat products imports in the first eight months of 2021 were 43% higher than in the same period last year. Comparing 2021 to 2020, imports of hot rolled rose 75%, imports of hot dip galvanized increased 20%, imports of cold rolled rose 19% and imports of cut plate rose 49%.
US flat products import licenses
January 2014 to August 2021
Short tons
Slabs at Novolipetsk (NLMK Group) from Worldsteel Image Library
Worldsteel reported crude steel production in China at 86.8 million metric tonnes in July, 8.4% lower than in July, 2020. China crude steel production in the first seven months of 2020 was 6.6% higher than in the same period last year.
Data from China’s General Administration of Customs show net finished steel exports (exports minus imports) in July at 4.6 million tonnes, 194.3% higher than in July, 2020. Net finished steel exports in the first seven months of 2021 were 51.1% higher than in the first seven months of 2020.
China produced 86.8 million tonnes in July, accounting for 54% of world output and falling 8.4% on July 2020. In other parts of Asia, Indian production rose 13.3%, Japanese output increased 32.5%, and South Korean production rose 10.8%.
European Union 27 crude steel production rose 30.3% on last July following a 24.7% increase in Germany. North American production increased 36.0% with US output up 37.9%. Other significant changes compared to July 2020 include higher production in Russia (+13.4%) and Brazil (+14.5%).
“Budaörs (Hungary) railway station, ‘Shmms’ special flat wagon. Four-axle special freight wagon suitable for transportation of sheet metal coils.” by Globetrotter19, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Based on reported import licenses, US long products imports increased 41% from 238,000 short tons in July, 2020 to 336,000 tons in July, 2021. Licenses indicate that the rise was mainly due to higher Wire Rod imports from a number of countries including Egypt, Mexico, Brazil and Algeria.
US long products imports in the first seven months of 2021 were 22% higher than in the same period last year with the largest volumes rising for Wire Rod (+40%), All Other Structural Shapes (+65%), and Light Shapes (+60%).
US long products import licenses
January 2015 to July 2021
Short tons
Steel wire rods in a fully automated storage facility at POSCO Pohang Steelworks, South Korea, from Worldsteel Image Library
Based on reported import licenses, US flat products imports rose 50% from 537,000 short tons in July, 2020 to 807,000 tons in July, 2021. The increase was mainly due to higher hot rolled imports, where import volumes increased by over 90%, mainly from Canada, South Korea and Turkey. Cold rolled import volumes also rose significantly from Taiwan, South Korea and Canada.
Flat products imports in the first seven months of 2021 were 34% higher than in the same period last year. Imports of hot rolled rose 61%, imports hot dip galvanized increased 12%, imports of cut plate rose 51% and imports of cold rolled rose 11%.
If you are following steel and raw materials import and export prices, you’ll be interested in this week’s Steel Data Room dataset of the week, “Global Carbon and Alloy Steel Products Imports and Exports”. The dataset has trade data in value, weight and US dollars per tonne from the International Steel Statistics Bureau. It includes trade by 6-digit HTS code by country, region and world for all major steel raw materials and steel products from scrap and iron to electrogalvanized sheet and cold finished bright bar in flats.
You can easily create meaningful charts in the Steel Data Room, like the one below illustrating the trends in US scrap import prices, which shows how the difference between prompt and obsolete scrap has widened since the end of 2020. If you are interested in the volumes and destinations of US scrap exports, on the other hand, the Steel Data Room allows you change the chart settings in a second and to download the results in the format you need.
To see what other great data is available in the Steel Data Room, try a free trial.
