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 2,298,000 net tons (NT). This was nearly unchanged from the 2,301,000 permit tons recorded in September and a 2.6 percent increase from the September final imports total of 2,241,000.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in October was 1,873,000, up 0.7 percent from the final imports total of 1,860,000 in September. For the first ten months of 2022 (including October SIMA permits and September final imports), total and finished steel imports were 26,517,000 NT and 21,542,000 NT, up 3.3 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2021. The estimated market share in October was 22 percent and is 24 percent year-to-date.
Steel imports with large increases in October permits vs. September final imports include sheets and strip galvanized electrolytic (up 98 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 69 percent), wire rods (up 52 percent), cold finished bars (up 51 percent) and wire drawn (up 16 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2021 include standard pipe (up 50 percent), wire rods (up 47 percent), line pipe (up 46 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 46 percent) and oil country goods (up 43 percent).
In October, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (554,000 NT, up 3 percent from September final), Mexico (420,000 NT, up 33 percent), Brazil (199,000 NT, up 5 percent), South Korea (117,000 NT, down 62 percent) and Germany (109,000 NT, up 41 percent). Through the first ten months of 2022, the largest suppliers were Canada (5,804,000 NT, down 1 percent), Mexico (4,635,000 NT, up 24 percent) and South Korea (2,359,000 NT, up 3 percent).
Published in the December 2022 Edition