Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that steel import permit applications for the month of August totaled 2,608,000 net tons (NT)*. This was an 11.4% decrease from the 2,944,000 permit tons recorded in July and a 15.3% decrease from the July final imports total of 3,078,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in August was 2,042,000, down 1.9% from the final imports total of 2,081,000 in July. For the first eight months of 2021 (including August SIMA permits and July final imports), total and finished steel imports were 20,405,000 NT and 14,149,000 NT, up 24.5% and 26.3%, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in August was 21% and is 20% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in August permits vs. the July final imports include steel piling (up 263%), structural pipe and tubing (up 41%), line pipe (up 27%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 24%), tin plate (up 21%), mechanical tubing (up 18%) and hot rolled bars (up 10%). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2020 include hot rolled sheets (up 83%), light shapes bars (up 68%), plates in coils (up 62%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 48%), wire rods (up 46%), cut lengths plates (up 44%), heavy structural shapes (up 26%), wire drawn (up 23%), hot rolled bars (up 23%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 20%), cold rolled sheets (up 19%), tin plate (up 19%) and oil country goods (up 18%).
In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (215,000 NT, down 28% from July final), Taiwan (105,000 NT, up 35%), The Netherlands (86,000 NT, up 70%), Japan (83,000 NT, up 24%) and China (78,000 NT, up 126%). Through the first eight months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,845,000 NT, up 32% from the same period last year), Japan (672,000 NT, up 27%) and Germany (558,000 NT, up 18%).
source: AISI |
