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 June totaled 2,894,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 3.7 percent decrease from the 3,005,000 permit tons recorded in May and a 0.3 percent increase from the May preliminary imports total of 2,887,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in June was 1,946,000, down 19.5 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,418,000 in May. For the first 6 months of 2018 (including June SIMA permits and May preliminary data), total and finished steel imports were 18,236,000 NT and 14,078,000 NT, down 7.4 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2017. The estimated finished steel import market share in June was 22 percent and is 25 percent year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in June permits vs. the May preliminary included black plate (up 540 percent) and sheets, strip, and all other metallic coatings (up 24 percent). Products with significant year-to-date increases vs. the same period in 2017 include hot rolled sheets (up 25 percent), plates in coils (up 23 percent), line pipe (up 13 percent) and mechanical tubing (up 12 percent).
In June, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (206,000 NT, up 88 percent from May preliminary), Japan (134,000 NT, up 11 percent), Germany (105,000 NT, down 25 percent), Taiwan (103,000 NT, up 32 percent) and Vietnam (88,000 NT, up 18 percent). Through the first 6 months of 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,738,000 NT, down 10 percent from the same period last year), Japan (745,000 NT, down 7 percent) and Germany (654,000 NT, up 9 percent).
Published in the August 2018 Edition