The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that based on the US Department of Commerce's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) steel import permit applications rose 7 percent month-over-month in April. Steel import permit tons were 2,626,000 net tons (nt) in April, compared to 2,455,000 nt in March. April permit tons also reflect a 7 percent increase from preliminary imports of 2,446,000 nt in March.
The increase was driven by imports for finished steel; import permit tonnage for finished steel in April was 1,999,000nt-up 8 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,850,000 nt in March .Total imports in April were also at their highest level in two-and-a-half years.
With April's gain, estimated finished steel import market rose to 23 percent, the highest level since July 2010. In April the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Korea (347,000 nt-up 51 percent from March), India (126,000 nt-up 138 percent from March), Japan (116,000 nt-up 3 percent from March), China (104,000 nt-up 55 percent from March) and Turkey (93,000 nt-up 89 percent from March).
The finished steel import permits for major products that registered large increases in April over March were plates in coil (up 85 percent), line pipe (up 69 percent), HDG sheet and strip (up 46 percent), rebar (up 41 percent) and hot rolled sheet (up 19 percent).