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 totaled 2,591,000 tons. This was an 8% decrease from the 2,824,000 permit tons recorded in July, but only a 0.3% increase from the July preliminary imports total of 2,582,000 tons. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in August was 2,004,000 tons, down 1% from the preliminary imports total of 2,028,000 tons in July. August 2012 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 34,207,000 tons and 26,456,000 tons, up 20% and 21%, respectively, vs. the 28,515,000 tons and 21,835,000 tons imported in 2011. The estimated finished steel import market share in August was 22%, and it is 24% through 8 months of 2012.

Finished steel imports with large increases in August permits vs. the July preliminary include heavy structural shapes (up 66%), reinforcing bars (up 64%), cut lengths plates (up 28%), tin plate (up 27%), hot rolled bars (up 22%) and cold rolled sheets (up 18%). Major products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2011 include reinforcing bars (up 49%), line pipe (up 42%), cut lengths plates (up 38%), oil country goods (up 33%), sheets & strip galvanized hot dipped (up 31%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 29%) and hot rolled bars (up 17%).

"While U.S. mills are operating at only a 75% utilization rate, offshore producers are sending cheap, subsidized finished steel imports into our market, which year-to-date, represent 24% market share," AISI President and CEO Thomas J. Gibson said. "On top of this, a slowdown in Chinese steel demand and global manufacturing activity generally is a cause of great concern here in the U.S. where we have the most open market in the world, as this could result in even larger increases in import tonnage in the months to come. We urge the U.S. government to be ever vigilant for evidence of foreign unfair trade practices that could result in harm to America’s steel industry."

In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (279,000 tons, down 2% from July), China (158,000 tons, up 36%), Japan (138,000 tons, down 18%), Turkey (116,000 tons, up 240%) and Germany (93,000 tons, up 7%). Through the first 8 months of 2012, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,450,000 tons, up 22% from the same period in 2011), Japan (1,309,000 tons, up 32%) and China (1,081,000 tons, up 29%).