According to the Specialty Steel Industry of North America, the US's imports of stainless steel sheets and strips totaled 320,160 short tons in the first eight months of 2012, increasing by 11.9% YoY.
In the given period of time, the country's consumption of stainless steel sheets and strips increased by 5.8% to 1.16 million short tons, making an import percentage of 27.5%, rising by 1.5 percentage points year on year.
In the first eight months of this year, the US's imports of stainless steel plates jumped by 30.9% to reach 160,194 short tons and the consumption rose by 22.3% to 305,897 short tons, bring the import penetration to rise by 3.5 percentage points to 52.4%.
Besides, the country's imports of stainless steel bars totaled 103,590 short tons year to date through August 2012, up by 6.1% and the consumption totaled 181,067 short tons, increasing by 0.9%.
Accordingly, the import penetration rose by 2.8% percentage points to 57.2%.
Meanwhile, the US imported 21,436 short tons of stainless rods in the first eight months of this year, rising by 9.3%; however, the consumption decreased by 3.8% to 50,096 short tons, making the import penetration rise by 5.1 percentage points to 42.8%.
In addition, the country's imports of stainless steel wire rose by 4.6% to 33,070 short tons in the given period of time while the consumption dropped by 1.7% to 40,515 short tons, making the import penetration rise by 4.9 percentage points to 81.6%.
