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 October totaled 1,643,000 net tons (NT).
This represents virtually no change from the 1,642,000 permit tons recorded in September and a 30.8 percent increase from the September final imports total of 1,256,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in October was 1,219,000, up 4.4 percent from the final imports total of 1,167,000 in September. For the first ten months of 2020 (including October SIMA permits and September final imports), total and finished steel imports were 19,290,000 NT and 13,587,000 NT, down 22.2 percent and 26.0 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2019. The estimated finished steel import market share in October was 17 percent and is 18 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in October permits vs. the September final imports include oil country goods (up 126 percent), wire rods (up 59 percent), reinforcing bars (up 47 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 45 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 42 percent), cut lengths plates (up 37 percent), hot rolled bars (up 25 percent) and wire drawn (up 15 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2019 include tin free steel (up 24 percent) and light shapes bars (up 19 percent).
In October, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (139,000 NT, up 12 percent from September final), Japan (77,000 NT, up 31 percent), Germany (62,000 NT, up 21 percent), Turkey (42,000 NT, up 544 percent) and China (24,000 NT, up 22 percent). Through the first ten months of 2020, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,658,000 NT, down 25 percent from the same period last year), Japan (663,000 NT, down 39 percent) and Germany (587,000 NT, down 36 percent).
Published in the December 2020 Edition