Based on the US Department of Commerce'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 July total 2,476,000 net tons (nt). This was a 6 percent decrease from the 2,626,000 permit tons recorded in June and 1 percent increase from the June final imports total of 2,460,000 nt.
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in July was 1,929,000, down 2 percnet from the final imports total of 1,974,000 in June. For the first seven months of 2013 (including July SIMA), total and finished steel imports were 18,208,000 nt and 14,298,000 nt, respectively, down 11 percent and 10 percent from the same period in 2012. July 2013 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 31,214,000 nt and 24,511,000 nt, down 7 percent and 5 percent, respectively, versus the 33,475,000 nt and 25,826,000 nt imported in 2012. The estimated finished steel import market share in July was 21 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in July permits compared to the June final data included wire rods (up 74 percent); sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 31 percent); hot rolled sheets (up 27 percent); hot rolled bars (up 15 percent) and wire drawn (up 11 percent); Products with significant year-to-date increases versus the same period in 2012 include heavy structural shapes (up 25 percent); standard rail (up 18 percent) and tin plate (up 18 percent).
In July, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea, China, Japan, Germany, and Taiwan. Through the first seven months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,996,000 nt and down 11 percent from the same period in 2012), Japan (1,091,000 nt and down 9 percent) and China (1,053,000 nt and up 14 percent).