US steel mills shipped 8.4Mt (net tons) of steel, an increase of 6.7% when compared with the previous month (July 2018) and a 6.5% increase on the 7.9Mt (net tons) shipped in August 2017, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

According to the AISI, shipments-to-date in 2018 (the last eight months) are 63.6Mt (net tons), up 4.6% on last year's figure of 60.8Mt (net tons).

Comparing August and July figures for 2018, hot dipped galvanised sheets and strip were up 11%, hot rolled sheets up 3% and cold rolled sheets also up 3%.