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 April totaled 2,292,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 17.6 percent decrease from the 2,782,000 permit tons recorded in March and a 12.4 percent decrease from the March final imports total of 2,615,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in April was 1,928,000, up 1.1 percent from the final imports total of 1,906,000 in March. For the first four months of 2023 (including April SIMA permits and March final imports), total and finished steel imports were 9,805,000 NT and 7,584,000 NT, down 12.6 percent and 14.6 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2022. The estimated finished steel import market share in April was 23 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in April permits vs. March final imports include reinforcing bars (up 63 percent), hot rolled bars (up 60 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 57 percent), cold finished bars (up 22 percent) and wire drawn (up 11 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2022 include oil country goods (up 54 percent), black plate (up 25 percent), line pipe (up 25 percent), standard rails (up 22 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 21 percent).
In April, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (575,000 NT, down 13 percent from March final), Mexico (340,000 NT, down 22 percent), South Korea (179,000 NT, down 4 percent), Japan (119,000 NT, up 1 percent) and China (114,000 NT, up 98 percent). Through the first four months of 2023, the largest suppliers were Canada (2,366,000 NT, up 2 percent), Mexico (1,613,000 NT, down 17 percent) and Brazil (1,324,000 NT, up 8 percent).
As published in June 2023 issue of American Recycler.