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 2,396,000 net tons (NT).
This was an 18.8 percent decrease from the 2,950,000 permit tons recorded in September and a 26.0 percent decrease from the September preliminary imports total of 3,237,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in October was 1,998,000, down 19.1 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,469,000 in September. For the first ten months of 2021 (including October SIMA permits and September preliminary imports), total and finished steel imports were 26,202,000 NT and 18,682,000 NT, up 36.8 percent and 37.2 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in October was 21 percent and is 21 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in October permits vs. the September preliminary imports include black plate (up 30 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 29 percent), stainless pipe and tubing (up 15 percent) and cold finished bars (up 13 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2020 include hot rolled sheets (up 111 percent), plates in coils (up 88 percent), wire rods (up 62 percent), cut lengths plates (up 58 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 57 percent), oil country goods (up 42 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 32 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 26 percent), hot rolled bars (up 26 percent), wire drawn (up 22 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 21 percent), reinforcing bars (up 16 percent) and tin plate (up 16 percent).
In October, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (205,000 NT, down 31 percent from September preliminary), Turkey (125,000 NT, up 6 percent), Vietnam (100,000 NT, up 29 percent), Taiwan (79,000 NT, down 16 percent) and Japan (86,000 NT, up 5 percent). Through the first ten months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,300,000 NT, up 38 percent from the same period last year), Japan (835,000 NT, up 26 percent) and Turkey (800,000 NT, up 62 percent).
Published in the December 2021 Edition