Based on the US DOC's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that steel import permit applications for the month of September totaled 1,252,000 net tons (nt). This figure represents a 26 percent increase from the 997,000 nt in permit tons recorded in August 2009 and a 47 percent increase from the August preliminary import total of 855,000 nt.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in September was 1,024,000 nt, an increase of 30 percent from the preliminary imports total of 786,999 nt in August.
SteelOrbis notes that while US steel import permits rose in September from August, the 1.25 million nt September figure is still less than half of the year-ago final import total of 2.95 million nt (2.68 million mt) recorded in September 2008.