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 December total 3,563,000 net tons (nt). This was a 12 percent decrease from the 4,069,000 permit tons recorded in November and a 2 percent decrease from the November preliminary imports total of 3,635,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in December was 2,856,000 nt, down 1 percent from the preliminary imports total of 2,878,000 nt in November. For the full year of 2014 (including December SIMA and November preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 44,205,000 nt and 33,589,000 nt, respectively, up 37 percent and 35 percent from the same period in 2013. The estimated finished steel import market share in December was 30 percent and is 28 percent for the full year of 2014.
Finished steel imports with large increases in December permits vs. the November preliminary included standard rails (up 177 percent), wire rods (up 74 percent), plates in coils (up 25 percent), cold finished bars (up 21 percent), hot rolled bars (up 14 percent), standard pipe (up 13 percent) and wire drawn (up 13 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2013 include plates in coils (up 91 percent), cold rolled sheets (up 88 percent), wire rods (up 85 percent), cut lengths plates (up 81 percent), heavy structural shapes (up 59 percent), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 57 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 45 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 41 percent), tin plate (up 30 percent),mechanical tubing (up 27 percent), oil country goods (up 21 percent) and reinforcing bars (up 20 percent).
In December, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (340,000 nt, down 27 percent from November preliminary), Japan (215,000 nt, up 46 percent), China (197,000 nt, down 22 percent), Russia (187,000, up 434 percent) and Turkey (178,000 nt, down 3 percent). Through twelve months of 2014, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (5,370,000 nt, up 44 percent from the same period in 2013), China (3,161,000 nt, up 67 percent) and Turkey (2,189,000, up 82 percent).