Oct 17 (LTIT) - The U.S. exports of misc. steel bars surged higher by 25.39% during the first eight months of 2018. The exports totaled $492.53 million, as compared with $392.8 million during the corresponding period in 2017.

According to data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, the top trade partner through August this year was Mexico. The exports to that country increased substantially by almost one-third to $204.54 million. This represented nearly 42% of the total U.S. exports of misc. steel bars. The second largest destination of exports was Canada, which accounted for $201.27 million of the total U.S. exports. The other key importers were China ($12.79 million), the UK (9.86 million) and Poland ($8.04 million).

The combined exports to the above five destinations totaled $436.49 million, accounting for 88.62% of all the exports.

Meantime, the U.S. Census Bureau data also indicated 13% surge in import volumes through August this year. The imports totaled $630.13 million, as compared with $558 million during Jan-Aug ’17. The full-year imports had totaled $855.71 million during 2017.

The top two sources of import were Canada and China, whose shipments to the U.S. totaled $114.74 million and $104.38 million respectively. The combined imports from the above two countries accounted for nearly 35% of all imports. The other key suppliers were Sweden ($56.19 million), South Korea ($41.58 million) and Brazil ($32.06 million). All the above five countries recorded increase in shipment volumes, over the previous year.