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 July totaled 3,458,000 net tons (NT)*. This was a 12.3% decrease from the 3,944,000 permit tons recorded in June and a 10.6% decrease from the June preliminary imports total of 3,868,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in July was 2,785,000, down 5.3% from the preliminary imports total of 2,941,000 in June. For the first seven months of 2017 (including July SIMA permits and June preliminary data), total and finished steel imports were 23,099,000 NT and 17,809,000 NT, up 21.7% and 16.5%, respectively, from the same period in 2016. The estimated finished steel import market share in July was 28% and is 27% year-to-date (YTD).

Finished steel imports with large increases in July permits vs. the June preliminary included standard rail (up 189%), standard pipe (up 51%), cut lengths plates (up 21%) and oil country goods (up 19%). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2016 include oil country goods (up 255%), cold rolled sheets (up 38%), standard pipe (up 50%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 37%), line pipe (up 37%), mechanical tubing (up 32%), hot rolled bars (up 29%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 25%), tin plate (up 10%) and wire rods (up 10%).

In July, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (333,000 NT, down 14% from June preliminary), Turkey (211,000 NT, down 36%), Japan (149,000 NT, up 20%), Germany (144,000 NT, up 24%) and Taiwan (136,000 NT, down 17%). Through the first seven months of 2017, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,261,000 NT, down 5% from the same period in 2016), Turkey (1,681,000 NT, up 11%) and Japan (935,000 NT, down 12%).