Preliminary: U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products February 2001

Bureau of the Census This release contains sensitive economic 
data not to be released before 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 22, 2001

CB-01-55 -- Press Copy 
FT-900A (01-02)

For information contact:
Haydn Mearkle    (301) 457-2246
Nick Orsini      (301) 457-2311

Preliminary: U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products February 2001

The Bureau of the Census, through the Department of Commerce, announced today 
that preliminary February steel imports were $0.8 billion (1.8 million metric 
tons).  This was a decrease of $0.1 billion (0.3 million metric tons) from 
the preliminary January totals of $1.0 billion (2.0 million metric tons).

The January to February change in steel imports, based on metric tonnage, 
reflected decreases primarily in plates in coils, hot rolled sheets, and 
heavy structural shapes.  Monthly changes in steel imports reflected 
decreases primarily with Netherlands, India, and Spain.

The January 2001 final statistics showed steel imports of 2.1 million 
metric tons, a decrease of 0.7 million metric tons over the 2.8 million 
metric tons in January 2000.  The largest commodity decreases were in 
blooms, billets, and slabs and hot rolled sheets.  The largest country 
decreases were with Brazil and Taiwan.

Notes:

The data in this report are preliminary and subject to revisions.
Analysis of recent months for steel product imports indicates the value 
of preliminary data should equal about 96 percent of the final value 
reported in the regular monthly trade statistics report.  Preliminary data 
reported for individual steel categories and at the individual country of 
origin level have been less consistently predictive of the final data 
reported in the regular monthly trade statistics. For further details visit 
the Foreign Trade Division web site at: www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/.  
On the web site you can access product by country and country by product 
tables.

The next release is April 26, 2001                                   

Source:  U.S. Census Bureau, Foreign Trade Division reports FT-900a U.S. Imports
For Consumption of Steel Products: Preliminary February 2001.  For more 
information vist the website at www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www or contact 
Nick Orsini at (301) 457-2311.