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 August total 3,554,000 net tons (NT).
This was an 8 percent decrease from the 3,856,000 permit tons recorded in July and a 7 percent decrease from the July Preliminary imports total of 3,833,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in August was 2,681,000, down 12 percent from the preliminary imports total of 3,058,000 in July. For the first 8 months of 2014 (including August SIMA and July Preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 28,494,000 NT and 21,316,000 NT, respectively, up 35 percent and 29 percent from the same period in 2013. The estimated finished steel import market share in August was 26 percent and is 27 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in August permits vs. the July Preliminary included reinforcing bars (up 240 percent), wire rods (up 37 percent), standard rails (up 31 percent) and line pipe (up 11 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2013 include plates in coils (up 81 percent), wire rods (up 80 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 72 percent), cut lengths plates (up 56 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 54 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 52 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 44 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 37 percent), mechanical tubing (up 35 percent) and oil country goods (up 25 percent).
In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (438,000 NT, down 22 percent from July Preliminary), China (245,000 NT down 9 percent), Turkey (219,000 NT, up 66 percent), Japan (209,000 NT, up 5 percent) and Taiwan (128,000 NT, up 21 percent). Through the first 8 months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,608,000 NT, up 49 percent from the same period in 2013) and China (2,033,000 NT, up 72 percent).
Published in the October 2014 Edition of American Recycler News