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 July totaled 2,289,000 net tons (NT). This was a 5.7 percent decrease from the 2,428,000 permit tons recorded in June and a 6.3 percent increase from the June final imports total of 2,152,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in July was 1,936,000, up 12.9 percent from the final imports total of 1,715,000 in June. For the first seven months of 2024 (including July SIMA permits and June final imports), total and finished steel imports were 17,629,000 NT and 13,636,000 NT, up 1.4 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2023. The estimated finished steel import market share in July was 22 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in July permits vs. June final imports include tin plate (up 124 percent), cut length plates (up 103 percent), wire rods (up 87 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 59 percent) and cold rolled sheets (up 39 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2023 include sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 71 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 41 percent), wire rods (36 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 28 percent) and structural pipe and tubing (up 18 percent).
In July, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (497,000 NT, down 11 percent from June final), Brazil (339,000 NT, up 9 percent), South Korea (199,000 NT, down 5 percent), Mexico (151,000 NT, down 28 percent) and Japan (139,000 NT, up 65 percent). Through the first seven months of 2024, the largest suppliers were Canada (3,930,000 NT, down 6 percent), Brazil (2,823,000 NT, up 15 percent) and Mexico (2,089,000 NT, down 20 percent).