AISI: U.S. Steel Import Permits Up 7% in August
09/04/2013 - The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported that steel import permit applications for the month of August total 2,686,000 tons: a 7% increase from the 2,508,000 permit tons recorded in July and 9% increase from the July preliminary imports total of 2,475,000 tons.
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 August total 2,686,000 tons. This was a 7% increase from the 2,508,000 permit tons recorded in July and 9% increase from the July preliminary imports total of 2,475,000 tons. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in August was 2,079,000, up 6% from the preliminary imports total of 1,956,000 in July. For the first eight months of 2013 (including August SIMA and July preliminary), total and finished steel imports were 20,893,000 tons and 16,404,000 tons, respectively, down 10% and 8% from the same period in 2012. August 2013 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 31,339,000 tons and 24,605,000 tons, down 6% 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 August was 23% and is 23% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in August permits vs. the July preliminary included reinforcing bars (up 128%), oil country goods (up 37%), sheets and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 33%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 22%) and cold rolled sheets (up 21%). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2012 include heavy structural shapes (up 22%), standard rail (up 35%), tin plate (up 20%) and reinforcing bars (up 13%).
In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (363,000 tons, up 38% from July preliminary), Japan (183,000 tons up 24%), China (117,000 tons, down 33%), Turkey (107,000 tons, up 82%) and The Netherlands (91,000 tons, up 62%). Through the first eight months of 2013, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,383,000 tons, down 4% from the same period in 2012), Japan (1,289,000 tons, down 5%) and China (1,192,000 tons, up 9%).
