Washington, D.C. – 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 December totaled 2,945,000 net tons (NT)*. This was an 6.3% increase from the 2,772,000 permit tons recorded in November and a 5.6% decrease from the November preliminary imports total of 3,120,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in December was 2,195,000, down 15.0% from the preliminary imports total of 2,583,000 in November. For the full year of 2021 (including December SIMA permits and November preliminary imports), total and finished steel imports were 32,626,000 NT and 23,821,000 NT, up 48.2% and 47.6%, respectively, from the same period in 2020. The estimated finished steel import market share in December was 23% and is 22% for full year 2021.
Finished steel imports with large increases in December permits vs. the November preliminary imports include steel piling (up 174%), tin plate (up 41%), tin free steel (up 35%), mechanical tubing (up 23%), line pipe (up 19%), standard pipe (up 14%) and wire rods (up 11%). Products with significant increases for full year 2021 vs. 2020 include hot rolled sheets (up 129%), plates in coils (up 103%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 73%), oil country goods (up 69%), wire rods (up 63%), cut lengths plates (up 63%), cold rolled sheets (up 45%) sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 35%), heavy structural shapes (up 34%), hot rolled bars (up 29%), mechanical tubing (up 25%), wire drawn (up 23%) and reinforcing bars (up 22%).
In December, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (255,000 NT, up 10% from November preliminary), Vietnam (153,000 NT, down 15%), Taiwan (102,000 NT, up 40%), Turkey (91,000 NT, down 19%) and Japan (86,000 NT, down 44%). For the full year 2021, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,805,000 NT, up 39% from the same period last year), Japan (1,070,000 NT, up 40%) and Turkey (1,027,000 NT, up 83%).
*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.
AISI serves as the voice of the American steel industry in the public policy arena and advances the case for steel in the marketplace as the preferred material of choice. AISI’s membership is comprised of integrated and electric arc furnace steelmakers, and associate members who are suppliers to or customers of the steel industry. For more news about steel and its applications, view AISI’s website at www.steel.org. Follow AISI on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter (@AISISteel) or Instagram.
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