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 August totaled 2,686,000 net tons (nt). This was a 7 percent increase from the 2,508,000 permit tons recorded in July and 9 percent increase from the July preliminary imports total of 2,475,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in August was 2,079,000, up 6 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,956,000 in July. For the first eight months of 2013 (including August SIMA and July preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 20,893,000 nt and 16,404,000 nt, respectively, down 10 percent and 8 percent from the same period in 2012. August 2013 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 31,339,000 nt and 24,605,000 nt, down 6 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 August was 23 percent and is 23 percent year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in August permits versus the July preliminary included reinforcing bars (up 128 percent); oil country goods (up 37 percent); sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 33 percent); sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 22 percent); and cold rolled sheets (up 21 percent). Products with significant year-to-date increases compared to the same period in 2012 include heavy structural shapes (up 22 percent); standard rail (up 35 percent); tin plate (up 20 percent); and reinforcing bars (up 13 percent).
In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (363,000 nt and up 38 percent from July preliminary data); Japan (183,000 nt and up 24 percent); China (117,000 nt and down 33 percent); Turkey (107,000 nt and up 82 percent); and The Netherlands (91,000 nt and up 62 percent). Through the first eight months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,383,000 nt and down 4 percent from the same period in 2012); Japan (1,289,000 nt and down 5 percent) and China (1,192,000 nt and down 9 percent).