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 August 2019 totaled 1,936,182 mt. This was a 29.5 percent decrease from the 2,748,136 mt in census data totals recorded in July and a 29.7 percent decrease from the 2,753,084 mt in census data totals recorded in August 2018.
In August, steel products with the largest total steel import permits included blooms, billets and slab at a combined 250,342 mt; HDG, at 178,541 mt; line pipe, at 167,781 mt; HRC, at 159,347 mt; OCTG, at 156,072 mt; and CRC, at 93,287 mt.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in August were Canada (466,076 mt), Mexico (246,147 mt), Korea (226,627 mt), Japan (136,066 mt), and Brazil (80,017 mt).