Based on the US Department of Commerce’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, steel import permit applications for the month of March totaled 3,096,436 mt. This was a 25.1 percent increase from the 2,475,222 mt in permits recorded in February and a 25.4 percent increase from the February final imports total of 2,469,257 mt. The estimated finished steel import market share in March was 26 percent.
Finished steel imports with large increases in March permits compared to the February final included heavy structural shapes (up 66 percent), rebar (up 55 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 43 percent), OCTG (up 40 percent), wire rod (up 29 percent), hot rolled bars (up 28 percent) and drawn wire (up 22 percent).
Finished steel imports with large increases in March permits compared to the February final included heavy structural shapes (up 66 percent), rebar (up 55 percent), hot rolled sheets (up 43 percent), OCTG (up 40 percent), wire rod (up 29 percent), hot rolled bars (up 28 percent) and drawn wire (up 22 percent).
In March, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Brazil (420,018 mt), Turkey (273,411 mt), Korea (268,603 mt), Russia (242,574 mt) and Japan (174,343 mt). Import permits from NAFTA partners were 507,995 mt from Canada and 232,846 mt from Mexico.