Based on the US Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that steel import permit applications for the month of January total 3,080,000 net tons (nt). This was a 19 percent increase from the 2,582,000 permit tons recorded in December and 23 percent increase from the December preliminary imports total of 2,502,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in January was 2,414,000, up 28 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,884,000 in December. The estimated finished steel import market share in January was 26 percent.

Finished steel imports with large increases in January permits vs. the December preliminary included reinforcing bars (up 165 percent), wire rods (up 151 percent), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 115 percent), plates in coils (up 57 percent), oil country goods (up 36 percent), sheet and strip galvanized hot dipped (up 30 percent) and hot rolled sheets (up 28 percent).

In January, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (387,000 nt, up 29 percent from December preliminary), China (199,000 nt up 39 percent), Japan (179,000 nt, up 22 percent), Turkey (172,000 nt, up 280 percent) and the Netherlands (99,000 nt, up 63 percent).