Import Market Share for Sheet, Plate, Longs and Tubulars

In spite of the widely reported decline in import volume, import market share increased in the second quarter. Last week we reported that June was the eighth consecutive month in which imports were down by more than 20 percent compared to the same month last year. This has not been the case for import market share, which increased in three months compared to 12 months for 15 of the 16 products considered in this report.

Table 1 shows total supply to the market in three months through June and in 12 months through June for the four product groups and the 16 subcategories. Supply to the market is the total of domestic mill shipments to domestic locations plus imports. It shows imports on the same three- and 12-month basis and then calculates import market share for the two time periods for 16 products. Finally, it subtracts the 12-month share from the three-month share and color codes the result green or red. If the result of the subtraction is positive, it means that import share is increasing and the code is red. The big picture is that import market share increased in three months compared to 12 months for all of the 16 products considered except coiled plate.