According to a Tuesday press release by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), 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 1,955,000 nt. This reflects a 15 percent decrease from the 2,297,000 permit tons recorded in May and a 12 percent decrease from the May preliminary imports total of 2,226,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in June was 1,524,000 nt. This was a 12 percent decrease from the preliminary imports total of 1,722,000 nt in May.
For the month of June, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Korea (154,000 nt,), China (79,000 nt), Taiwan (76,000 nt), Japan (70,000 nt) and Germany (64,000 nt). Finished steel import market share in June is estimated at 19 percent and is estimated to be at 20 percent year-to-date.
Finished steel import permits for major product categories that registered significant increases in June vs. the May preliminary include reinforcing bar (up 117 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 37 percent), standard pipe (up 14 percent) and cut length plates (up 11 percent).