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 February totaled 2,391,000 net tons (NT). This was a 3.1 percent decrease from the 2,468,000 permit tons recorded in January and a 6.2 percent decrease from the January final imports total of 2,549,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in February was 1,764,000, down 7.9 percent from the final imports total of 1,916,000 in January. For the first two months of 2024 (including February SIMA permits and January final imports), total and finished steel imports were 4,940,000 NT and 3,681,000 NT, up 0.9 percent and down 1.9 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2023. The estimated finished steel import market share in February was 21 percent and is 22 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in February permits vs. January final imports include standard rail (up 373 percent), reinforcing bars (up 111 percent), tin plate (up 74 percent), and sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 15 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2023 include sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 54 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 38 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 35 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 29 percent) and cut lengths plates (up 25 percent).
In February, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (522,000 NT, down 17 percent from January final), Brazil (445,000 NT, down 5 percent), Mexico (322,000 NT, down 19 percent), South Korea (212,000 NT, up 8 percent) and Japan (96,000 NT, down 17 percent). Through the first two months of 2024, the largest suppliers were Canada (1,101,000 NT, down 3 percent), Mexico (688,000 NT, down 18 percent) and Brazil (872,000 NT, up 17 percent).
