U.S. Steel Import Permits Declined in June

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data published by the U.S. Commerce Department indicates marginal decline in steel import permits by the country during June 2018. With reference to the above data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported 3.7% decline in steel imports during the month when compared with the prior month. The import permit applications had declined drastically in May this year.

The U.S. steel import permit applications totaled 2.894 million net tons (NT) in June this year. The permit applications recorded marginal decline by 3.7% when compared with the permit applications of 3.005 million NT during the previous month. The applications were slightly higher by 0.3% when matched with the preliminary steel imports total of 2.887 million NT during May 2018.

The import permit tonnage for finished steel totaled 1.946 million NT in June this year, significantly lower by nearly 20% when matched with the preliminary imports total of 2.418 million NT during the month before. The finished steel products which recorded the highest increase in import tonnage was black plate, the imports of which skyrocketed by 540% when compared with preliminary imports in May ‘18. Also, the imports of sheets, strip, and all other metallic coatings registered 24% jump from the previous month.

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In June, the largest number of import permit applications was for South Korea. The permit applications from the country have surged significantly higher by nearly 88% from May preliminary to total 206,000 NT. The import permits from Japan and Germany totaled 134,000 NT and 105,000 NT respectively.

The combined finished steel imports during the first six-month period of 2018 totaled 14.078 million NT, down by 6.6% over the same period in 2017. The combined steel imports during the initial half of 2018 totaled 18.236 million NT.