Based on the US Department of Commerce's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that US steel import permit applications for the month of December totaled 1,326,000 net tons (nt), which reflects a nine percent decrease from the 1,450,000 permit tons recorded in November 2009 and an increase of less than one percent from the November preliminary import total of 1,321,000 nt.
AISI reported that import permit tonnage for finished steel in December was 1,116,000 nt, which was an increase of 17 percent from the preliminary import total of 954,000 nt in November. Full year 2009 total and finished steel import tons (including preliminary November and SIMA permit tons for December) are 16,075,000 nt and 14,107,000 nt, down 50 percent and 46 percent, respectively from 2008. AISI commented, "While this would be the lowest yearly tonnage of finished steel imports since 1991, finished steel import market share has remained high in a severely depressed domestic market. This finished steel import market share in December is estimated at 18 percent and 21 percent for the year as a whole."