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 November totaled 2,862,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 1.2 percent decrease from the 2,895,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 5.5 percent increase from the October final imports total of 2,713,000 NT.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 2,274,000, up 0.8 percent from the final imports total of 2,256,000 in October. For the first eleven months of 2016 (including November SIMA permits and October final data), total and finished steel imports were 30,379,000 NT and 24,322,000 NT, down 16.5 percent and 17.3 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2015. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 27 percent and is 26 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. the October final included sheets and strip electrolytic galvanized (up 50 percent), hot rolled bars (up 50 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 26 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 21 percent), line pipe (up 18 percent), reinforcing bars (up 18 percent), mechanical tubing (up 14 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 13 percent) and plates in coils (up 12 percent). Tin plate (up 13 percent) had a significant year-to-date (YTD) increase vs. the same period in 2015.
In November, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (342,000 NT, up 24 percent from October final), Turkey (169,000 NT, down 24 percent), Vietnam (142,000 NT, up 28 percent), Taiwan (110,000 NT, up 15 percent) and Japan (104,000 NT, down 29 percent). Through the first eleven months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,612,000 NT, down 22 percent from the same period in 2015), Turkey (2,246,000 NT, down 15 percent) and Japan (1,687,000 NT, down 20 percent).
Published in the January 2017 Edition of American Recycler News
