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 2021 totaled 1,764,409 mt. This was a 19.7 percent decrease from the 2,198,449 mt in preliminary census data totals recorded in January but a 28.4 percent increase from the 1,374,348 mt in census data totals recorded in February 2020.
In February, import permits for flat steel products totaled 692,648 mt, up 27.1 percent from January’s data; import permits for long steel products totaled 303,409 mt, down 8.2 percent from January; import permits for pipe and tube products totaled 217,711 mt, up 3.1 percent from January; and import permits for semi-finished products totaled 454,248 mt, down 56.8 percent from January.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in February were Canada (416,937 mt), Brazil (256,510 mt), Mexico (236,632 mt), Korea (195,799 mt), and Japan (82,792 mt).