The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported in a news release Wednesday that steel import permit applications for the month of September increased by nine percent when compared with August applications.
Based on data from the Commerce Department's Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA), September steel import permit applications totaled 2.684 million net tons (nt), while August 2008 applications totaled 2.460 million nt, representing a nine percent increase.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in September totaled 2.279 million nt, representing an increase of 16 percent from the preliminary import total of 1.958 million nt in August.
Total steel imports for the first nine months of 2008 totaled 23.869 million nt, while the first nine months of 2007 totaled 26.144 million nt. This represents a decrease of nine percent from last year.
The largest US import source in September 2008, China, achieved the highest monthly level since October 2006, with 594,000 nt. China was followed by South Korea at 221,000 nt, India at 142,000 nt, and Japan at 128,000 nt.