US Steel Imports in 10 Months of 2019 down by 15% YoY
Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis data, the American Iron and Steel Institute reported that steel import permit applications for the month of October totaled 2,560,000 net tons. This was a 29.2% increase from the 1,982,000 permit tons recorded in September and a 34.6% increase from the September final imports total of 1,902,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in October was 1,519,000, down 0.9% from the final imports total of 1,532,000 in September. For the first ten months of 2019 total and finished steel imports were 25,152,000 net tons and 18,384,000 net tons, down 14.6% and 16.8%, respectively, from the same period in 2018. The estimated finished steel import market share in October was 17% and is 20% year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in October permits vs. the September final imports included light shapes bars (up 81%), black plate (up 44%), wire rods (up 35%), sheets and strip hot dipped galvanized (up 20%), mechanical tubing (up 19%), tin plate (up 17%) and hot rolled bars (up 14%). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2018 include black plate (up 109%), steel piling (up 44%) and tin free steel (up 25%).
In October, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (186,000 net tons, up 18% from September final), Germany (86,000 net tons, up 33%), Japan (82,000 net tons, up 15%), Brazil (67,000 net tons, up 74%) and The Netherlands (54,000 net tons, up 38%). Through the first ten months of 2019, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (2,235,000 net tons, down 10% from the same period last year), Japan (1,098,000 net tons, down 6%) and Germany (917,000 net tons, down 17%).
Source : Strategic Research Institute