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 October totaled 2,979,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 5.3 percent increase from the 2,828,000 permit tons recorded in September and a 31.6 percent increase from the September final imports total of 2,263,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in October was 2,039,000, up 9.2 percent from the final imports total of 1,866,000 in September. For the first 10 months of 2018 (including October SIMA permits and September final data), total and finished steel imports were 29,150,000 NT and 22,130,000 NT, down 11.4 percent and 13.3 percent, respectively, from the same period in 2017. The estimated finished steel import market share in October was 21 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in October permits vs. the September final included cold finished bars (up 59 percent), line pipe (up 54 percent), hot rolled bars (up 52 percent), mechanical tubing (up 32 percent), tin plate (up 29 percent), cut lengths plates (up 26 percent) and wire drawn (up 20 percent). Products with significant YTD increases vs. the same period in 2017 include hot rolled sheets (up 22 percent) and plates in coils (up 19 percent).
In October, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (177,000 NT, down 7 percent from September final), Germany (114,000 NT, down 2 percent), Japan (111,000 NT, up 23 percent), Vietnam (97,000 NT, up 29 percent) and The Netherlands (91,000 NT, up 57 percent). Through the first 10 months of 2018, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,472,000 NT, down 26 percent from the same period last year), Japan (1,175,000 NT, down 10 percent) and Germany (1,101,000 NT, down 5 percent).
Published in the December 2018 Edition
