The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported Wednesday that based on the US Department of Commerce's most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, steel import permit applications in August were 2,446,000 net tons (nt)--down 3 percent from the 2,520,000 permit tons recorded in July and a 5 percent decrease from the July preliminary imports total of 2,584,000 nt. Import permit tonnage for finished steel registered a more significant drop in August, and fell 11 percent from July preliminary imports to 2,060,000 nt.
Year-to-date 2011 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 29,514,000 nt and 22,489,000 nt, up 23 percent and 19 percent, respectively versus the same period in 2010. The estimated finished steel import market share in August was 21 percent and is 22 percent year-to-date.
In August, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Korea (212,000 nt, down 29 percent from July), China (122,000 nt, down 21 percent), Japan (97,000 nt, down 30 percent), Germany (72,000 nt, down 16 percent) and India (68,000 nt, up 30 percent).
The products that had the most notable increases in shipments in August versus July were reinforcing bars (up 79 percent), cold finished bars (up 21 percent), cut-length plates (up 17 percent) and oil country goods (up 10 percent).