Steel imports increase in January

Citing preliminary Census Bureau data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) says the U.S. imported nearly 3.07 million net tons of steel in January, including 2.31 million net tons of finished steel, an increase of 43.5 percent and 26.5 percent, respectively, from December 2024.

Total and finished steel imports grew 20.2 percent and 20.3 percent, respectively, compared with January 2024. Over the 12-month period from February 2024 to January of this year, total and finished steel imports are up 4.5 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively compared with the prior 12-month period. Finished steel import market share was an estimated 25 percent in January.

Key steel products with a significant import increase in January from December 2024 were heavy structural shapes (up 199 percent), reinforcing bars (up 191 percent), blooms, billets and slabs (up 143 percent), oil country goods (up 121 percent) and line pipe (up 84 percent). Products with a significant increase in imports from February 2024 through January of this year compared with the previous 12-month period include tin plate (up 45 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 40 percent), sheets and strip hot-dipped galvanized (up 35 percent), cold-rolled sheets (up 27 percent) and wire rods (up 22 percent).

The largest suppliers in January were Canada (649,000 net tons, a 25 percent increase from December 2024), Brazil (585,000 net tons, up 414 percent), Mexico (470,000 net tons, up 44 percent), South Korea (326,000 net tons, up 56 percent) and Japan (97,000 net tons, up 29 percent). From February 2024 through this January, the largest suppliers were Canada (6.58 million net tons, a decrease of 5 percent compared with the previous 12 months), Brazil (4.62 million net tons, up 15 percent), Mexico (3.6 million net tons, down 13 percent), South Korea (2.94 million net tons, up 9 percent) and Vietnam (1.33 million net tons, a 119 percent increase).

The full statistical report with charts can be accessed via AISI’s website.

Trade-focused legislation

The AISI also has voiced its support for the Feb. 25 introduction of the “Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 Act” in the House of Representatives by Reps. Beth Van Duyne (R-TX) and Terri Sewell (D-AL) and in the Senate by Sens. Todd Young (R-IN) and Tina Smith (D-MN).  The bill would update the previous "Leveling the Playing Field Act," which was signed into law in 2015 and addressed persistent and evolving threats from unfair competition. The new bill would strengthen U.S. trade remedy laws to crack down on unfair trade practices, including addressing foreign governments that subsidize industries like steel in their own countries as well as in other countries.

A bill by the same name was introduced June 7, 2023, as H.R. 3882, to Congress by Sewell and Young. 

“The American steel industry has faced repeated surges of unfairly traded steel imports from many countries and regions,” AISI President and CEO Kevin Dempsey says. “Trade-distorting economic policies by China and other countries have contributed to a massive global overcapacity in steel, estimated to be 573 million metric tons globally last year.

"U.S. trade remedy laws are the only means by which the American steel industry can mitigate the harm from unfairly traded imports and help prevent plants from being idled and workers from losing their jobs. Unfortunately, U.S. trade laws as currently applied do not address subsidies given by a foreign government to production outside its borders, as China is doing today.”

Although China does not ship much steel directly to the U.S., its ability to furnish finished steel to some markets and semifinished steel to rolling mills elsewhere can affect demand for American-made steel and ferrous scrap shipped from the U.S.

In its policy statement on trade, AISI notes that China is a source of overcapacity-related issues and mentions Mexico as the potential location for “widespread transshipment of steel through third countries” that brings Chinese metal into the U.S.

“By strengthening the effectiveness of our trade laws, this bill will help give the American public confidence that our government has every tool available to fight for a level playing field for the American steel industry and our workers,” Dempsey adds.

Among other items, he says the bill would authorize the Commerce Department to apply the countervailing duty law to transnational subsidies, strengthen the antidumping law by ensuring the ability of the Commerce Department to make “particular market situation” adjustments in antidumping investigations in all instances where home market costs or prices have been distorted, sets clear statutory deadlines for anticircumvention inquiries and ensure the countervailing duty law can be applied to currency manipulation by foreign governments.

Tariffs to go into effect

The Trump administration is poised to enact 25 percent tariffs on all incoming steel shipments starting March 12. How this move will affect trade flows, ferrous scrap (which is exempt from the tariffs) demand and pricing and finished steel prices will be revealed in the coming months.