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 October 2021 totaled 2,173,261 mt. This was a 26.0 percent decrease from the 2,938,323 mt in final census data totals recorded in September but a 58.4 percent increase from the 1,372,336 mt in census data totals recorded in October 2020.
In October, import permits for flat steel products totaled 1,022,472 mt, down 18.7 percent from September’s census data; import permits for long steel products totaled 424,083 mt, down 7.1 percent from September; import permits for pipe and tube products totaled 286,426 mt, down 37.6 percent from September; and import permits for semi-finished products totaled 354,212 mt, down 42.6 percent from September.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in October were Canada (475,207 mt), Mexico (406,034 mt), Korea (186,214 mt), Brazil (142,610 mt), and Turkey (113,559 mt).