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 September totaled 2,846,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 7 percent decrease from the 3,066,000 permit tons recorded in August and a 5 percent decrease from the August preliminary imports total of 2,989,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in September was 2,090,000, down 9 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,307,000 in August.
For the first 9 months of 2016 (including September SIMA permits and August preliminary data), total and finished steel imports were 24,808,000 NT and 19,691,000 NT, down 20 percent and 22 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2015. The estimated finished steel import market share in September was 25 percent and is 25 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in September permits vs. the August preliminary included sheets and strip galvanized electrolytic (up 82 percent), oil country goods (up 20 percent) and sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 15 percent). Reinforcing bars (up 12 percent) had a significant YTD increase vs. the same period in 2015.
In September, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (288,000 NT, down 14 percent from August preliminary), Japan (161,000 NT, down 9 percent), Turkey (159,000 NT, down 12 percent) and Germany (113,000 NT, down 12 percent).
Published in the November 2016 Edition of American Recycler News