U.S. Steel Import Permits Staged Strong Rebound in July

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that steel import permit applications for the month of July this year increased from the previous year. This is based on the latest Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data published by the U.S. Commerce Department. The import market share totaled 24% during the month. The U.S. steel import permit applications had declined drastically in June this year.

The steel import permit applications for July 2018 totaled 3.202 million net tons (NT). This is notably higher by 8.4% when compared with the permit tons of 2.995 million NT recorded during the previous month. The July permits were up significantly by 28.4% when compared with the June ’18 final imports of 2.495 million NT.

The finished steel products which recorded the highest increase in import tonnage was reinforcing bars, the imports of which skyrocketed by 228% when compared with June ’18 final imports. 

In July 2018, the largest number of finished steel import permit applications was received from South Korea. The permit applications from that country have declined by 8% from June final data to total 194,000 NT. The permit applications from Japan were up by 4%, whereas those from Vietnam declined by 5%.

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Meantime, the cumulative total steel imports, inclusive of July SIMA permit data and June final import data, stood lower by 9.2% from the same period in 2017. The finished steel imports during the period were down by 9.3%. The year-to-date finished steel imports recorded market share of 25%.

The largest offshore supplier during the initial seven-month period of 2018 was South Korea with 1.937 million NT, followed by Japan (875,000 NT) and Germany (761,000 NT). The cumulative import permit applications by South Korea and Japan witnessed 15% and 7% decline over the previous year. Meanwhile, permit applications from Germany were up marginally by 1%.