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AISI: U.S. Steel Import Permits Down 6% in July

08/07/2013 - 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 July total 2,476,000 tons.  

This was a 6% decrease from the 2,626,000 permit tons recorded in June and 1% increase from the June final imports total of 2,460,000 tons.  Import permit tonnage for finished steel in July was 1,929,000, down 2% from the final imports total of 1,974,000 in June.  For the first seven months of 2013 (including July SIMA), total and finished steel imports were 18,208,000 tons and 14,298,000 tons, respectively, down 11% and 10% from the same period in 2012.   July 2013 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 31,214,000 tons and 24,511,000 tons, down 7% and 5%, respectively, vs. the 33,475,000 tons and 25,826,000 tons imported in 2012.  The estimated finished steel import market share in July was 21% and is 23% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in July permits vs. the June final included wire rods (up 74%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 31%), hot rolled sheets (up 27%), hot rolled bars (up 15%) and wire drawn (up 11%).   Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2012 include heavy structural shapes (up 25%), standard rail (up 18%) and tin plate (up 18%).
In July, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (268,000 tons, up 12% from June final), China (155,000 tons up 1%), Japan (140,000 tons, up 6%), Germany (90,000 tons, down 15%) and Taiwan (70,000 tons, up 30%).  Through the first seven months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,996,000 tons, down 11% from the same period in 2012), Japan (1,091,000 tons, down 9%) and China (1,053,000 tons, up 14%).