U.S. steel exports inch up in August

U.S. steel exports are down overall in 2015, thanks to an economic slowdown in Canada, which purchases about half of all steel exported from the United States, according to the American Institute of International Steel.    The United States exported 826,470 net tons of steel in August, up 1.7 percent from July, but down 21.2 percent from Aug. 2014, according to the American Institute for International Steel (AIIS).
   For the first eight months of 2015, the U.S. exported 6.9 million net tons of steel, a year-over-year drop of 14.5 percent, as exports to Canada and Mexico were down, while exports to the European Union rose.
   Steel exports to Canada throughout the first eight months of the year stood at 3.38 million net tons, while exports to Mexico stood at 2.66 million net tons, year-over-year declines of 22.2 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.
   However, exports to the European Union for the first eight months of 2015 posted a year-over-year increase of 8.6 percent to 249,387 net tons.
   “Canada’s economy has struggled all year, and since that nation buys about half of all of the steel that is shipped out of the United States, export numbers are unlikely to grow much until conditions improve north of the border,” the AIIS said in a statement.