US steel imports are expected to continue to fall in December,
driven by lower flat and semi-finished volumes.
Steel
import volumes may decline to 1.98mn metric tonnes (t), according to license
data for December deliveries from the US Department of Commerce.
That
would be down by 24pc from the 2.62mn t actually imported in December 2021 but
up by 8.7pc from November's preliminary figures.
Licenses
are filed with the intent of actually importing, although the volumes of actual
imports can fluctuate.
Licenses
filed for flat products totaled 726,900t, down by 38pc compared to the 1.16mn t
imported in the prior year. Most of the declines were led by hot rolled coil
(HRC) and hot dipped galvanized (HDG) coil, which were down by 51pc and 44pc,
respectively.
Semi-finished
steel licenses are down by 48pc to 294,100t, with slab licenses plunging to
78,600t, a 79pc decline compared to the 369,700t imported a year prior.