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 May totaled 2,235,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 25.0 percent decrease from the 2,981,000 permit tons recorded in April and a 19.4 percent decrease from the April preliminary imports total of 2,773,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in May was 1,514,000, up 15.7 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,309,000 in April. For the first five months of 2020 (including May SIMA permits and April preliminary imports), total and finished steel imports were 11,421,000 NT and 7,332,000 NT, down 16.0 percent and 26.4 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2019. The estimated finished steel import market share in May was 23 percent and is 19 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in May permits vs. the April preliminary imports included oil country goods (up 93 percent), standard pipe (up 33 percent), hot rolled bars (up 29 percent), line pipe (up 26 percent), tin plate (up 24 percent), mechanical tubing (up 18 percent), cut lengths plates (up 15 percent), wire rods (up 13 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 12 percent) and cold rolled sheets (up 11 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2019 include tin free steel (up 29 percent) and light shapes bars (up 18 percent).
In May, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (235,000 NT, up 46 percent from April preliminary), Japan (103,000 NT, up 50 percent), Turkey (98,000 NT, up 86 percent), Taiwan (84,000 NT, up 75 percent) and Germany (72,000 NT, up 14 percent). Through the first five months of 2020, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (943,000 NT, down 27 percent from the same period last year), Japan (373,000 NT, down 39 percent) and Germany (305,000 NT, down 41 percent).
Published in the July 2020 Edition