US iron, steel mill product trade deficit soars

May 17, 2011 | 12:18 PM | Corinna Petry

Tags  metals imports, metals exports, iron, steel, copper, aluminum, alumina, bauxite nickel

CHICAGO — A 4.7-percent increase in the value of U.S. iron and steel mill product exports to $1.05 billion in March was more than offset by a 31.9-percent month-on-month gain in the import value to $1.78 billion.

This resulted in an iron and steel mill product trade deficit of $732 million, more than double the $348-million deficit recorded in February, according to the latest data from the U.S .Bureau of Economic Analysis.

U.S. iron and steel mill product imports were valued at nearly $4.38 billion for the first three months of the year, up 42.2 percent from $3.08 billion in the same three months of 2010. Even with first-quarter exports rising 24.9 percent to $3.06 billion from $2.45 billion a year earlier, the year-to-date deficit in iron and steel trade reached $1.32 billion, more than double the $630-million deficit in the same 2010 period.....