Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that steel import permit applications for the month of June totaled 2,965,000 net tons (NT). This was a 12.4 percent increase from the 2,637,000 permit tons recorded in May and a 17.5 percent increase from the May final imports total of 2,523,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in June was 1,982,000, up 6.8 percent from the final imports total of 1,856,000 in May. For the first six months of 2021 (including June SIMA permits and May final imports), total and finished steel imports were 14,756,000 NT and 9,959,000 NT, up 19.0 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in June was 21 percent and is 19 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in June permits vs. the May final imports include black plate (up 136 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 53 percent), oil country goods (up 38 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 26 percent), wire rods (up 18 percent), reinforcing bars (up 17 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 16 percent), cut lengths plates (up 16 percent), mechanical tubing (up 15 percent), plates in coils (up 14 percent), line pipe (up 13 percent) and standard pipe (up 11 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2020 include light shapes bars (up 55 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 54 percent), plates in coils (up 41 percent), cut lengths plates (up 34 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 31 percent), wire rods (up 25 percent), tin plate (up 24 percent), wire drawn (up 20 percent), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 12 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 10 percent).
In June, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (284,000 NT, up 50 percent from May final), Japan (111,000 NT, up 15 percent), Germany (99,000 NT, up 2 percent), Taiwan (94,000 NT, up 13 percent) and The Netherlands (86,000 NT, up 36 percent). Through the first six months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,341,000 NT, up 19 percent from the same period last year), Japan (514,000 NT, up 19 percent) and Germany (414,000 NT, up 10 percent).
