U.S. Finished Steel Imports to Dip by 23% in 2020

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) forecasts significant decline in imports of finished steel by the country during the current year. The estimates provided by the association are based on the import trends during the initial eleven-month period of the year.

The country is likely to witness 23.3% decline in finished steel imports in the entire year 2020. As per estimates, the full-year finished imports are likely to total 16.144 million net tons in 2020. The U.S. finished imports had totalled 21.051 million net tons in the whole of 2019. Meantime, the total steel imports are likely to see a decline of 19.8% from 27.937 million net tons in 2019 to 22.392 million net tons during this year, AISI said.

The AISI foresees modest to sharp decline in import volumes of all of the steel mill products during the year, except reinforcing bars, whose imports are predicted to surge higher by 2% over the previous year. The imports of line pipes are likely to decline the most, falling by nearly 62.6% from the previous year. The imports of oil country goods and hot-rolled bars are likely to drop by 53.2% and 25.5% respectively. The U.S. wire rod imports are expected to fall by 25.4% during the current year.