Posted on 09 Dec 2021
Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that steel import permit applications for the month of November totaled 2,678,000 net tons (NT)*. This was an 3.2% increase from the 2,594,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 2.2% decrease from the October final imports total of 2,740,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 2,304,000, down 2.2% from the final imports total of 2,356,000 in October. For the first eleven months of 2021 (including November SIMA permits and October final imports), total and finished steel imports were 29,239,000 NT and 21,347,000 NT, up 42.5% and 44.2%, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 25% and is 21% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. the October final imports include black plate (up 82%), heavy structural shapes (up 53%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 32%), hot rolled bars (up 32%), standard pipe (up 26%), line pipe (up 26%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 21%), tin plate (up 21%), oil country goods (up 16%) and cold rolled sheets (up 14%). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2020 include hot rolled sheets (up 126%), plates in coils (up 102%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 66%), wire rods (up 60%), oil country goods (up 60%), cut lengths plates (up 59%), cold rolled sheets (up 38%), hot rolled bars (up 31%), heavy structural shapes (up 30%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 28%), wire drawn (up 24%), and reinforcing bars (up 21%).
In November, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (220,000 NT, down 2% from October final), Vietnam (191,000 NT, up 74%), Japan (153,000 NT, up 90%), Turkey (118,000 NT, down 21%) and The Netherlands (94,000 NT, up 76%). Through the first eleven months of 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,538,000 NT, up 42% from the same period last year), Turkey (1,437,000 NT, up 162%) and Japan (982,000 NT, up 38%).
*Note that import permits data are counts of tonnages requested in applications for licenses to import steel mill products and are not actual import volumes. For a number of reasons, permit tonnages may understate or overstate actual import volumes for the month, preliminary estimates of which will be available later this month.
Source:American Iron and Steel Institute
