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 May 2021 totaled 2,377,737 mt. This was a 0.8 percent decrease from the 2,396,753 mt in census data totals recorded in April but a 44.7 percent increase from the 1,643,480 mt in census data totals recorded in May 2020.
In May, import permits for flat steel products totaled 917,253 mt, up 16.9 percent from April’s census data; import permits for long steel products totaled 368,327 mt, down 1.4 percent from April; import permits for pipe and tube products totaled 308,569 mt, up 5.7 percent from April; and import permits for semi-finished products totaled 663,827 mt, down 23.4 percent from April.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in May were Canada (514,691 mt), Brazil (342,895 mt), Mexico (294,421 mt), Korea (214,484 mt), and Russia (201,970 mt).