The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) announced that the total steel imports by the U.S. were 1.888 million net tons in February this year. This is based on the monthly imports data published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The imports were down by almost 22%, compared with the same month a year before.

The finished steel imports during the month totalled 1.424 million net tons, significantly higher by 15% upon comparison with the final finished steel imports in January 2021. The finished steel import market share was estimated at 18% during the month.

The total and finished steel imports amounted to 4.310 million net tons and 2.662 million net tons respectively through February 2021. These were down by 7.5% and 11.1% respectively compared with the same period in 2020.

The imports of Tin Plates recorded the biggest surge in February, rising by nearly 158% from the prior year. The other finished steel product to witness notable volume jump was Cold Rolled Sheets, whose imports were up by 69% over the prior year. Also, Hot Rolled Sheets reported 63% surge in imports during the month, AISI data said. On the other hand, the imports of Ingots and Billets and Slabs collapsed by 60.8%.

The AISI estimates the annualized total and finished steel imports for the whole year 2021 at 25.9 million net tons and 16 million net tons respectively.