US steel import permits fall 15 percent in May from April level

The US Department of Commerce's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data show that steel import permit applications for the month of May totaled approximately 920,790 metric tons (1,015,000 net tons) in May, which is a 15 percent decrease from the amount of permit tons recorded in April 2009 and a 16 percent decrease from the April preliminary import total.

Import permit tonnage for finished steel in May totaled about 906,280 mt (999,000 nt), which is a decrease of 10 percent from the preliminary import total for April, and the lowest finished steel import figure since February 1993.

Finished steel import products that registered increases in May vs. the April preliminary total include rebar (up 54 percent), OCTG (up 37 percent) and plates in coils (up 19 percent). Year-to-date, only OCTG imports remain higher than last year (up 31 percent).

Commenting on the May data, Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), said, “Our key concern remains unfairly traded imports, especially at this time of severely depressed US steel industry and market conditions. It is also important to note that, while import tonnage overall has declined, import market share is staying at high levels even at a time when our domestic steel industry is operating at only 46 percent of capability and there are widespread layoffs.”