U.S. Finished Steel Imports Witnessed Notable Decline in 2020

The cumulative steel imports by the U.S. during the full year 2020 totalled 22.579 million NT.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported notable surge in steel import permit applications for the month of December last year.

Based on the latest Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data published by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the import permit applications totalled 2.071 million net tons (NT) during the month, significantly higher by almost 48.1% when compared with the prior month. The November 2020 permits had totalled 1.399 million NT. The permit applications for finished steel totalled 1.326 million NT, modestly up by 12.2% from the preliminary imports total of 1.181 million NT during the prior month.

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The cumulative steel imports by the U.S. during the full year 2020 totalled 22.579 million NT, whereas the finished steel imports totalled 16.125 million NT. The above figures are inclusive of SIMA data for December and November preliminary imports. The total steel imports were down sharply by 19.1%. Also, finished steel imports recorded 23.4% decline when compared with 2019.

The SIMA data for December 2020 suggests notable surge in import permits of line pipes, electrical sheets and strip, oil country goods, tin free steel, plates in coils, hot rolled sheets, sheets and strip all other metallic coatings and hot rolled bars.

The products with significant jump in imports during 2020 include tin free steel and light shapes bars. The largest offshore suppliers during the previous year were South Korea, Germany and Japan.

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