Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that steel import permit applications for the month of March totaled 2,689,000 net tons (NT)*. This was an 11.3% increase from the 2,417,000 permit tons recorded in February and an 8.8% increase from the February final imports total of 2,471,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in March was 2,067,000, up 18.5% from the final imports total of 1,744,000 in February. For the first three months of 2024 (including March SIMA permits and February final imports), total and finished steel imports were 7,709,000 NT and 5,627,000 NT, up 2.6% and 1.2%, respectively, from the same period in 2023. The estimated finished steel import market share in March was 23% and is 22% year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in March permits vs. February final imports include line pipe (up 120%), plates in coils (up 71%), hot rolled sheets (up 36%), mechanical tubing (up 30%) and sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 25%). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2023 include sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 53%), cold rolled sheets (up 36%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 33%), cut lengths plates (up 32%) and structural pipe and tubing (up 31%).
In March, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (563,000 NT, up 5% from February final), Brazil (545,000 NT, up 8%), South Korea (384,000 NT, up 108%), Mexico (281,000 NT, down 14%) and Japan (100,000 NT, up 36%). Through the first three months of 2024, the largest suppliers were Canada (1,675,000 NT, down 7%), Brazil (1,468,000 NT, up 22%) and Mexico (978,000 NT, down 23%).
Source: AISI
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