US steel imports in January 2009 up by 13% MoM

Based on preliminary reporting by the Department of Commerce, American Institute for International Steel said that total steel imports of US in January were 2.34 million tonnes as compared to 2.07 million tonnes in December 2008, up by 13.3% MoM and a 12.2% YoY decrease as compared to January 2008.

The data show that imported semi finished products decreased by 55.1% YoY in January 2008 as compared to January 2009 from 0.463 million tonnes in 2008 to 0.208 million tons in 2009.

Mr David Phelps president of AIIS said that "The steel market remains depressed, and arrivals reflect that hard reality as imports continue to slow from non NAFTA countries, with exceptions from countries supplying slabs and hot rolled for US foreign owned operations, such as Russia and the EU. With hot end operations in the US operating at low capacity, internationally integrated companies will continue to ship slabs and other steel products such as hot rolled sheet to their US operations as demand justifies."

He added that "AIIS, based on its monthly importer survey, expects arrivals to continue at depressed levels for some months to come. We remain optimistic that the stimulus legislation may breathe some life into the steel market in the second half of the year."

Source: http://steelguru.com/news/