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 January total 2,696,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 2 percent increase from the 2,638,000 permit tons recorded in December and a 16 percent increase from the December preliminary imports total of 2,323,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in January was 2,093,000, up 4 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,017,000 in December. The estimated finished steel import market share in January was 25 percent.
Finished steel imports with large increases in January 2016 permits vs. the December 2015 preliminary included standard rails (up 460 percent), oil country goods (up 91 percent), reinforcing bars (up 74 percent), standard pipe (up 68 percent), line pipe (up 45 percent), cold finished bars (up 24 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 19 percent), wire drawn (up 11 percent) and plates in coils (up 11 percent).
Published in the March 2016 Edition of American Recycler News