US aluminium import drops 18% YoY in Jan-July 2019; semi-finished import up about 10%

According to the preliminary estimates from Aluminum Association, aluminium demand in the United States and Canada (shipments by domestic producers plus imports) totalled an estimated 7.5 million tonnes from January to July 2019, an increase of 1.3 per cent over YTD 2018. The U.S. accounted for the larger share in it.

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As shown by data from US Geological Survey, US imported 2.8 million tonnes of aluminium and semi-finished aluminium in the period from January to July 2019, a drop of 17.6% from 3.4 million tonnes in the same period of 2018.

The import of crude aluminium and alloy dropped about 27% to 1.9 million tonnes from 2.6 million tonnes in the first seven months of 2018. On the other hand, imports of semi-finished aluminium have registered an increase during the same period. Imports of semi-finished aluminium increased about 10% to 925,000 tonnes from 838,000 tonnes in the same period of 2018.

Country wise, semi-finished aluminium import registered a huge drop in case of China. The total semi-finished aluminium import from China in January-July 2018 stood at 206,000 tonnes, which dropped about 58% to 86,300 tonnes in January-July 2019.

The US continues to remain import dependent despite the tariffs on imported aluminium, especially in semi-finished segments.  The volume of import is dropping Year-on-year, but, the change is mostly driven by increased production in the primary sector and the U.S. continues to import a large chunk of its semi-finished aluminium.