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 January 2020 totaled 3,040,752 mt. This was a 115.8 percent increase from the 1,409,279 mt in preliminary census data totals recorded in December but a 3.7 percent decrease from the 3,155,977 mt in census data totals recorded in January 2019.
In January, steel products with the largest total steel import permits included blooms, billets and slab at a combined 1,543,733 mt; HDG, at 207,441 mt; HRC, at 127,002 mt; CRC, at 104,072 mt; OCTG, at 100,617 mt; and rebar, at 96,456 mt.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in January were Brazil (1,319,037 mt), Canada (468,031 mt), Mexico (335,893 mt), Korea (144,943 mt), and Russia (112,783 mt).