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 March total 2,541,000 net tons (nt). This was a 3 percent decrease from the 2,609,000 permit tons recorded in February but up by 4 percent from the February preliminary imports total of 2,441,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in March was 2,012,000 nt, up 11 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,819,000 nt in February. The estimated finished steel import market share in March was 23 percent.
Finished steel imports with large increases in March permits versus the February preliminary included reinforcing bars (up 50 percent); oil country goods (up 33 percent); sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 30 percent); hot rolled bars (up 18 percent); line pipe (up 17 percent); and hot rolled sheets (up 16 percent). Major products with significant year-to-date increases compared to the same period in 2012 include galvanized electrolytic sheets and strip (up 50 percent); steel piling (up 40 percent); cold rolled strip (up 30 percent) and sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 21 percent).
In March, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (293,000 nt and up 18 percent from February); Japan (170,000 nt and up 35 percent); China (146,000 nt and up 2 percent); Turkey (113,000 nt and down 1 percent) and Germany (97,000 nt and down 3 percent). Through the first three months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea, China and Japan.