US Steel Imports in April dip 13% MoM
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 April totaled 2,959,000 net tons. This was a 13.9% decrease from the 3,436,000 permit tons recorded in March and a 68.8% increase from the March final imports total of 1,753,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in April was 1,317,000, down 13.0% from the final imports total of 1,514,000 in March. For the first four months of 2020 (including April SIMA permits and March final imports), total and finished steel imports were 9,371,000 net tons and 5,827,000 net tons, down 18.7% and 28.1%, respectively, from the same period in 2019. The estimated finished steel import market share in April was 21% and is 18% year-to-date.
Finished steel imports with large increases in April permits vs. the March final imports included heavy structural shapes (up 89%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 34%), reinforcing bar (up 21%) and tin plate (up 19%). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2019 include non-classified pipe and tubing (up 75%), light shapes bars (up 27%) and tin free steel (up 15%).
In April, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (165,000 net tons, down 20% from March final), Brazil (65,000 net tons, up 357%), Japan (64,000 net tons, up 14%), Germany (64,000 net tons, down 8%) and Turkey (56,000 net tons, up 72%). Through the first four months of 2020, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (712,000 net tons, down 29% from the same period last year), Japan (266,000 net tons T, down 45%) and Germany (233,000 net tons, down 49%).
Source : Strategic Research Institute