Based on the US 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 July total 3,781,000 net tons (nt). This was a 1 percent increase from the 3,732,000 permit tons recorded in June and a 5 percent increase from the June Preliminary imports total of 3,586,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in July was 2,952,000 nt, up 9 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,706,000 nt in June. For the first 7 months of 2014 (including July SIMA and June Preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 24,863,000 nt and 18,504,000 nt, respectively, up 36 percent and 29 percent from the same period in 2013. The estimated finished steel import market share in July was 28 percent and is 27 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in July permits vs. the June Preliminary included plates in coils (up 102 percent), standard rails (up 69 percent), sheet and strip all other metallic coatings (up 47 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 35 percent), line pipe (up 33 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 21 percent) and hot rolled bars (up 15 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2013 include plates in coils (up 85 percent), wire rods (up 79 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 74 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 59 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 53 percent), cut lengths plates (up 47 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 40 percent), mechanical tubing (up 38 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 37 percent), oil country goods (up 31 percent) and reinforcing bar (up 14 percent).
In July, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (537,000 nt, up 18 percent from June Preliminary), China (257,000 nt up 12 percent), Russia (210,000 nt, up 119 percent), Japan (180,000 nt, up 30 percent) and Taiwan (98,000 nt, up 15 percent). Through the first seven months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (3,147,000 nt, up 53 percent from the same period in 2013), China (1,775,000 nt, up 65 percent) and Japan (1,170,000 nt, up 6 percent).