Steel Products Prices North America
December 6, 2017
License Data Shows Decline in Steel Imports
Written by Peter Wright
Rolled steel imports into the United States declined by 12.7 percent in the three-month period from September-November, compared with the prior three months, June-August. Sheet products declined by 11.4 percent on the same basis, according to weekly licensed import tonnages reported by of the U.S. Department of Commerce on Dec. 5.
The data is reported within the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis system (SIMA). An explanation of the methodology that Steel Market Update uses to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece, together with notes describing SIMA. All volumes in this analysis are reported in short 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.
