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 November total 2,647,000 net tons (nt). This was a 24 percent decrease from the 3,473,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 13 percent decrease from the October final imports total of 3,041,000 nt.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 2,098,000, down 8 percent from the final imports total of 2,275,000 in October. For the first eleven months of 2015 (including November SIMA and October final), total and finished steel imports were 36,590,000 nt and 29,553,000 nt, respectively, down 10 percent and 4 percent from the same period in 2014. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 26 percent and is 29 percent year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. the October final included bars light shapes (up 199 percent), cut lengths plates (up 111 percent), structural pipe and tubing (up 42 percent) and plates in coils (up 37 percent). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2014 include reinforcing bar (up 41 percent), standard pipe (up 18 percent), line pipe (up 17 percent) and wire drawn (up 11 percent).
In November, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (330,000 nt, down 7 percent from October final), Japan (213,000 nt up 56 percent), Turkey (201,000 nt, down 32 percent), China (112,000 nt, up 63 percent) and Germany (106,000, up 14 percent). Through the first eleven months of 2015, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (4,634,000 nt, down 8 percent from the same period in 2014), Turkey (2,686,000 nt, up 32 percent) and China (2,286,000, down 23 percent).