U.S. Steel Imports Up from March, Down for 2013

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that preliminary April steel imports were $2.5 billion (2.4 million metric tons) compared to the preliminary March totals of $2.3 billion (2.2 million metric tons).

The April change in steel imports based on metric tonnage reflected increases primarily in blooms, billets and slabs; and a decrease primarily in reinforcing bars.  Increases occurred primarily with Brazil and Japan.  A decrease occurred primarily with Turkey.

The year to date final statistics through March 2013 showed steel imports of 7.0 million metric tons compared with 7.8 million metric tons through March 2012. The largest commodity decreases occurred primarily in blooms, billets, and slabs. Increases occurred primarily in hot dipped galvanized sheets and strips.

The largest country decrease occurred primarily with Russia. An increase occurred primarily with China. 

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