Preliminary data from Commerce shows that U.S. companies imported 7.3 million net tons of steel mill products through May. This decline of 7.5% from the year-earlier tonnage doesn't yet reflect U.S. government-imposed tariffs of up to 30% on certain kinds of imported steel. "The imports through May still reflect orders when the future of the tariffs was uncertain, but people already were very nervous about buying from offshore," says David Phelps, president of the American Institute of International Steel, which represents steel importers.

The May tonnage of 1.4 million tons of finished steel is the lowest monthly import total since December 1995. Yet, some products show significant year-to-date increases include: semifinished steel bought by steelmakers for processing (40%), hot-rolled sheet (37%), hot-dipped galvanized sheet (21%), metallic coated sheet (17%), cut-to-length plates (14%), bar products and light shapes (20%), and wire rod (12%).

Note: Final Commerce trade data through April (see table on page 48B240) shows that while tonnage of steel imports had risen by 7.3% at the time, the value had declined by 3.4%.