AISI releases June SIMA imports data; import market share at 25 percent

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) has said that based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, steel import permit applications for the month of June totaled 2,907,000 NT.  This was a 1 percent decrease from the 2,946,000 permit tons recorded in May and a 4 percent increase from the May preliminary imports total of 2,786,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in June was 2,255,000, up 9 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,077,000 in May.  For the first six months of 2015 (including June SIMA and May preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 15,702,000 NT and 12,799,000 NT, both down 28 percent from the same period in 2015.   The estimated finished steel import market share in June was 25 percent and is 25 percent year to date.

Finished steel imports with large increases in June permits versus the May preliminary included standard rails (up 200 percent), black place (up 112 percent), plates in coils (up 50 percent), reinforcing bars (up 43 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 37 percent), line pipe (up 35 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 17 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 15 percent.)

In June, the three largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (392,000 NT), Turkey (216,000 NT), Japan (145,000 NT).