Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that steel import permit applications for the month of May total 3,950,000 net tons (nt). This was a 7 percent increase from the 3,706,000 permit tons recorded in April and a 6 percent increase from the April Preliminary imports total of 3,726,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in May was 2,823,000, up 3 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,738,000 in April. For the first five months of 2014 (including May SIMA and April Preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 17,401,000 nt and 12,717,000 nt, respectively, up 31 percent and 22 percent from the same period in 2013. The estimated finished steel import market share in May was 27 percent and is 26 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in May permits vs. the April Preliminary included oil country goods (up 58 percent), tin plate (up 38 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 38 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 29 percent), line pipe (up 21 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 18 percent), standard pipe (up 15 percent) and sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 13 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2013 include wire rods (up 94 percent), plates in coils (up 72 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 53 percent),sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 46 percent), hot rolled sheets (39 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 38 percent), mechanical tubing (34 percent), oil country goods (up 27 percent), reinforcing bars (up 22 percent) and cut lengths plates (up 20 percent).
In May, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (556,000 nt, up 39 percent from April Preliminary), China (297,000 nt, down 29 percent), Turkey (157,000 nt, up 14 percent), Japan (141,000 nt, down 33 percent) and Germany (106,000 nt, up 7 percent). Through the first five months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,124,000 nt, up 40 percent from the same period in 2013), China (1,281,000 nt, up 72 percent) and Japan (848,000 nt, up 3 percent).