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 totaled 2,643,700 mt. This was a 17.8 percent increase from the 2,243,619 mt in permits recorded in December and an 18.9 percent increase from the December census import total of 2,222,865 mt.
In January, steel products with the largest total import permits include blooms, billets and slab at a combined 482,770 mt; OCTG, at 325,204 mt; HDG, at 198,291 mt; line pipe, at 190,321 mt; HRC, at 172,574 mt; and CRC, at 137,022 mt.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in January were Canada (469,249 mt), Brazil (397,444 mt), Korea (328,565 mt), Mexico (237,867 mt), and Turkey (154,320 mt).