U.S. Steel Import Permits Soared 42% in March, Says AISI

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data published by the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) suggests significant jump in steel import permits during the month of March this year.

The import permit applications for the month totaled 3.48 million net tons (NT), which is considerably higher by 41.6% from the permit tons recorded during the prior month. The steel import permit applications had totaled only 2.458 million NT in February 2018. Also, March ’18 permit tons were higher by over 47% from the preliminary steel imports of 2.363 million NT in February this year. It must be noted that the steel import permit applications had declined in February.

The permit tonnage for finished steel too was up by over 32% from February 2018 preliminary imports of 1.923 million NT to 2.540 million NT in March. The estimated market share of finished steel was 26% during the month. The finished steel product to report highest jump in import tonnage was reinforcing bars. The March permits of reinforcing bars skyrocketed by 338% when compared with February preliminary imports. The import permits of standard rails and plates in coils were up significantly by 107% and 56% respectively. The other finished steel products to report notable increase in import permit tons were standard pipes (up 45%), oil country goods (up 42%) and cold rolled sheets (up 41%).

ALSO READ: AISI Forecasts 6% Slump in US Finished Steel Imports in 2018

The largest number of import permit applications was for South Korea. The permit applications from the country skyrocketed by nearly 31% from February preliminary to total 361,000 NT. The import permits from Turkey and Japan totaled 186,000 NT and 149,000 NT respectively.

The cumulative finished steel imports during the initial three-month period in 2018 totaled 6.797 million NT, marginally down by 2.2% over the previous year. The products that reported significant increases in imports during Jan-Mar ’18 were oil country goods, hot rolled sheets and plates in coils. The largest offshore suppliers during this period were South Korea, Japan and Turkey.