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 September totaled 2,865,000 net tons (NT).
This was an 8.8 percent increase from the 2,633,000 permit tons recorded in August and a 3.3 percent increase from the August final imports total of 2,773,000.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in September was 2,144,000, up 1.7 percent from the final imports total of 2,108,000 in August. For the first nine months of 2021 (including September SIMA permits and August final imports), total and finished steel imports were 23,434,000 NT and 16,358,000 NT, up 32.8 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in September was 22 percent and is 20 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in September permits vs. the August final imports include line pipe (up 107 percent), oil country goods (up 94 percent), reinforcing bars (up 73 percent), tin free steel (up 59 percent), cut lengths plates (up 34 percent), wire rods (up 21 percent) and standard pipe (up 17 percent). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2020 include hot rolled sheets (up 93 percent), plates in coils (up 72 percent), light shapes bars (up 65 percent), wire rods (up 54 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 54 percent), cut lengths plates (up 51 percent), oil country goods (up 36 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 29 percent), hot rolled bars (up 25 percent), wire drawn (up 24 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 24 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 20 percent), reinforcing bars (up 14 percent) and tin plate (up 12 percent).
In September, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (277,000 NT, up 67 percent from August final), Turkey (113,000 NT, up 57 percent), Vietnam (109,000 NT, up 50 percent), Taiwan (97,000 NT, down 7 percent) and Germany (96,000 NT, up 20 percent). Through the first nine months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,073,000 NT, up 37 percent from the same period last year), Japan (741,000 NT, up 26 percent) and Turkey (669,000 NT, up 57 percent).
Published in the November 2021 Edition