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 April totaled 2,734,000 net tons (NT). This was a 0.5 percent decrease from the 2,748,000 permit tons recorded in March and an 8.7 percent increase from the March final imports total of 2,516,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in April was 2,101,000, up 4.9 percent from the final imports total of 2,003,000 in March. For the first four months of 2024 (including April SIMA permits and March final imports), total and finished steel imports were 10,270,000 NT and 7,764,000 NT, up 3.8 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2023. The estimated finished steel import market share in April was 24 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in April permits vs. March final imports include wire rods (up 83 percent), tin plate (up 62 percent), reinforcing bars (up 34 percent), blooms, billets and slabs (up 23 percent) and cold rolled sheets (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 61 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 44 percent), wire rods (40 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 37 percent) and hot rolled sheets (up 32 percent).
In April, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (588,000 NT, down 2 percent from March final), Mexico (431,000 NT, up 51 percent), Brazil (283,000 NT, down 28 percent), South Korea (232,000 NT, down 33 percent) and Vietnam (140,000 NT, up 59 percent). Through the first four months of 2024, the largest suppliers were Canada (2,295,000 NT, down 4 percent), Brazil (1,623,000 NT, up 14 percent) and Mexico (1,401,000 NT, down 14 percent).
