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 February 2023 totaled 1,982,858 mt. This was a 16.3 percent decrease from the 2,368,424 mt in final census data totals recorded in January and a 7.1 percent decrease from the 2,133,998 mt in census data totals recorded in February 2022.
In February, import permits for flat steel products totaled 613,976 mt, down 22.3 percent from January’s census data; import permits for long steel products totaled 360,698 mt, down 14.3 percent from January; import permits for pipe and tube products totaled 465,308 mt, down 13.3 percent from January; and import permits for semi-finished products totaled 479,727 mt, down 10.9 percent from January.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in February were Canada (471,424 mt), Mexico (342,189 mt), Brazil (315,078 mt), South Korea (209,582 mt), and Germany (74,173 mt).