The United States imported 13.5 million tonnes of steel from the start of the year to May, down nearly 12 percent from the same period in 2018. The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that in the first five months, the United States imported 9.95 million tons of finished steel that does not require further processing. The share of imported metal products on the US steel market in January-May amounted to 21 percent.
In May, imports of finished steel took 19 percent of the market and amounted to 1.85 million tons. This is 9.3 percent less than in April. Total steel imports fell 38.2 percent from the previous month to 2 million tonnes in May.
The largest offshore steel suppliers, excluding Canada and Mexico, in May were South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany and Vietnam. So far this year, US steel imports from South Korea are down 16 percent from last year, from Germany by 6 percent, Taiwan by 7 percent and Vietnam by 5 percent.
