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 February total 2,283,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 20 percent decrease from the 2,841,000 permit tons recorded in January and an 11 percent decrease from the January preliminary imports total of 2,577,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in February was 1,854,000, down 16 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,217,000 in January. For the first two months of 2016 (including February SIMA and January preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 4,860,000 NT and 4,070,000 NT, respectively, down 40 percent and 37 percent from the same period in 2015. The estimated finished steel import market share in February was 23 percent and is 25 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in February permits vs. the January preliminary included oil country goods (up 16 percent).
In February, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (350,000 NT, up 46 percent from January preliminary), Turkey (159,000 NT down 35 percent), Japan (97,000 NT, down 48 percent), Vietnam (78,000, up 31 percent) and China (78,000 NT, down 14 percent). Through the first two months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (591,000 NT, down 55 percent from the same period in 2015), Turkey (403,000 NT, down 31 percent) and Japan (285,000, down 37 percent).
Published in the April 2016 Edition of American Recycler News