U.S. Census Bureau News
U.S. Department of Commerce · Washington, DC 20230

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10:00 A.M. EST TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2009
CB09-175, FT-900A (10-09)

For information contact:	
Nick Orsini  (301) 763-6959		
Maria Iseman (301) 763-2311		
	
Preliminary: U.S. Imports for Consumption of Steel Products
October 2009

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that preliminary October 
steel imports were $1.3 billion (1.4 million metric tons) compared 
to the preliminary September totals of $1.0 billion (1.1 million 
metric tons).     
	
The October change in steel imports based on metric tonnage 
reflected an increase primarily in blooms, billets, and slabs.   
A monthly increase occurred primarily with Russia.
    
The year to date final statistics through September 2009 showed 
steel imports of 10.7 million metric tons compared to 22.1 million 
metric tons through September 2008. The largest commodity decrease 
was in blooms, billets, and slabs. The largest country decrease was 
with Canada.  

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/trade. On the web site you can access 
product by country and country by product tables.

The next release is December 22, 2009.