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 March total 2,969,000 net tons (nt). This was a 23 percent increase from the 2,414,000 permit tons recorded in February and a 30 percent increase from the February final imports total of 2,276,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in March was 2,120,000, up 1 percent from the final imports total of 2,099,000 in February.
For the first three months of 2016 (including March SIMA and February final), total and finished steel imports were 7,894,000 nt and 6,448,000 nt, respectively, each down 33 percent from the same period in 2015. The estimated finished steel import market share in March was 24 percent and is 25 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in March permits vs. the February final included standard rails (up 387 percent), cut lengths plates (up 62 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 19 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 16 percent) and wire drawn (up 11 percent).
In March, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (342,000 nt, down 9 percent from February final), Turkey (224,000 nt up 8 percent), Japan (161,000 nt, up 41 percent), Germany (99,000 nt, up 23 percent) and China (67,000 nt, down 17 percent). Through the first three months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (960,000 nt, down 49 percent from the same period in 2015), Turkey (676,000 nt, down 32 percent) and Japan (464,000 nt, down 27 percent).