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 1,864,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 28.1 percent decrease from the 2,594,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 14.4 percent decrease from the October preliminary imports total of 2,177,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 1,201,000, down 18.8 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,479,000 in October. For the first 11 months of 2019 (including November SIMA permits and October preliminary imports), total and finished steel imports were 26,634,000 NT and 19,545,000 NT, down 16.3 percent and 18.6 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2018. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 14 percent and is 19 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. October preliminary imports included black plate (up 353 percent), cut lengths plates (up 39 percent), line pipe (up 28 percent), reinforcing bars (up 18 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 16 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2018 include black plate (up 90 percent), steel piling (up 34 percent) and tin free steel (up 20 percent).
In November, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (175,000 NT, up 3 percent from October preliminary), Japan (75,000 NT, up 1 percent), The Netherlands (71,000 NT, up 133 percent), Germany (56,000 NT, down 29 percent) and Taiwan (35,000 NT, down 9 percent).
Through the first 11 months of 2019, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,394,000 NT, down 10 percent from the same period last year), Japan (1,165,000 NT, down 9 percent) and Germany (966,000 NT, down 21 percent).
Published in the January 2020 Edition