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 December 2019 totaled 2,094,049 mt. This was a 49.4 percent increase from the 1,402,098 mt in census data totals recorded in November and a 21.9 percent increase from the 1,717,818 mt in census data totals recorded in December 2018.
In December, steel products with the largest total steel import permits included blooms, billets and slab at a combined 779,553 mt; HRC, at 162,134 mt; HDG, at 158,818 mt; OCTG, at 100,919 mt; CRC, at 96,094 mt; and line pipe, at 87,207 mt.
The largest sources of steel import permit applications in December were Brazil (571,855 mt), Canada (462,157 mt), Mexico (298,938 mt), Korea (180,238 mt), and Germany (77,908 mt).