With the exception of hot-rolled bar, the top 10 steel products imported into the US declined from October to November, with the biggest drops seen in energy pipe products.
An S&P Global Platts analysis of US Census Bureau data Friday showed that oil country tubular goods imports fell 23.9% from October to 232,716 mt, the preliminary count of November imports. Line pipe was off 36.1% to 145,879 mt in the same comparison.
Other big decliners were cold-rolled sheet (down 28.3% to 143,887 mt), wire rod (down 39% to 65,878 mt) and rebar (down 31.5% to 49,655 mt).
The only major product gainer was HR bar, imports of which totaled 116,941 mt in the preliminary November count, up 41.1% from October.
Overall imports totaled 2.47 million mt in the November preliminary count, down 13.6% from October.
