Steel Products Prices North America
August 2, 2017
Flat Roll Imports Jump in May-July
Written by Peter Wright
Total imports of rolled steel increased by 16.9 percent, and sheet products by 18.4 percent, in the three months through July, compared with the prior three months, according to final license data for July released by the U.S. Commerce Department on Aug. 1. The three-month moving average (3MMA) of the total volume of rolled product imports in July was the highest since May 2015. (See the note at this end of this piece on SMU’s methodology and the data from the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system. All volumes are reported in short tons.)
The July increase in imports was all in flat roll. Semis and long products declined. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of July were 2,685,458 tons with a 3MMA of 2,677,691 tons. We prefer not to dwell on single-month results because of the extreme variability that can occur in individual products. In the comments below, we use three-month moving averages to give what we believe is the most accurate picture.
