U.S. steel imports continue sinking in April

AIIS warned this “negative trend is now growing more pronounced, and, if it continues, the year-to-date total could soon fall below 2014.”    U.S. steel imports in April registered 3.48 million metric tons, a drop of 3.7 percent from the previous month and a reduction of 6.8 percent compared to the same monthly period last year.
   These imports have continued to fall for the past three months in a row, according to the American Institute for International Steel.
   “Part of the drop resulted from a decrease in imports from Turkey, which were down by almost 48 percent to 214,000 net tons. Imports from South Korea dropped more than 9 percent from March to 510,000 net tons, and imports from Canada dipped 5 percent to 504,000 net tons. Imports from Brazil, meanwhile, spiked almost 35 percent to 428,000 net tons, while imports from the European Union increased 3 percent to 517,000 net tons,” AIIS explained.
   For the first four months of 2015, combined imports from all source countries reached 15.2 million net tons, 12.9 percent higher than in the same period of 2014.
   Semi-finished imports into the United States for April also fell 45 percent from the same month in 2014 to 545,000 net tons and were down 27 percent to 2.6 million net tons year-to-date, the trade association said.
   “While imports have been declining on a month-to-month basis, they had been staying above the levels of a year earlier. Until April, that is,” said AIIS. “The negative trend is now growing more pronounced, and, if it continues, the year-to-date total could soon fall below 2014.
   “Despite the influence of a strong dollar, reduced steel demand in the energy sector resulting from low oil and natural gas prices and an apparent softening of the U.S. economy indicate that a bear market for steel imports is likely for the rest of 2015,” it added.