Based on preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)  reported today that the U.S. imported a total of 3,349,000 net tons (NT) of steel in August 2017, including2,422,000 net tons (NT) of finished steel (down 4.8% and 16.8%, respectively, vs. July final data). Year-to-date(YTD) through eight months of 2017, total and finished steel imports are 26,561,000 and 20,401,000 net tons

(NT), up 20.6% and 15.5%, respectively, vs. the same period in 2016. Annualized total and finished steel imports in 2017 would be 39.8 and 30.6 million NT, up 20.7% and 16.2%, respectively, vs. 2016. Finished steelimport market share was an estimated 26% in August and is estimated at 28% YTD.

Key finished steel products with significant import increases in August compared to July include wire drawn (up 8%). Major products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2016 include oil country goods (up 250%), standard pipe (up 47%), line pipe (up 42%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 33%), mechanical tubing (up 32%), cold rolled sheets (up 31%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 25%) and hot rolled bars (up 19%)

In August, the largest volumes of finished steel imports from offshore were from South Korea (351,000 NT, up 3% from July final), Japan (128,000 NT, down 7%), Taiwan (121,000 NT, up 1%), Turkey (101,000 NT, down 61%) and Germany (99,000 NT, down 33%). For the first eight months of 2017, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,620,000 NT, down 3% vs. the same period in 2016), Turkey (1,827,000 NT, up 8%), Japan (1,065,000 NT, down 17%), Taiwan (906,000 NT, up 39%) and Germany (849,000 NT, up 2%). Below are charts on estimated steel import market share in recent months and on finished steel imports from offshore by country.