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 November totaled 1,408,000 net tons (NT)*. This was a 17.2% decrease from the 1,699,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 6.7% decrease from the October final imports total of 1,509,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 1,267,000, up 1.4% from the final imports total of 1,250,000 in October. For the first eleven months of 2020 (including November SIMA permits and October final imports), total and finished steel imports were 20,564,000 NT and 14,885,000 NT, down 22.0% and 24.4%, respectively, from the same period in 2019. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 18% and is 18% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. the October final imports include tin plate (up 86%), sheets and strip electrolytic galvanized (up 83%), plates in coils (up 49%), reinforcing bars (up 34%), standard pipe (up 23%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 21%) and light shapes bars (up 21%). Products with significant year-to date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2019 include light shapes bars (up 24%) and tin free steel (up 21%).
In November, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (146,000 NT, no change from October final), The Netherlands (82,000 NT, up 194%), Germany (64,000 NT, down 5%), Turkey (50,000 NT, down 27%) and China (39,000 NT, up 22%). Through the first eleven months of 2020, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (1,812,000 NT, down 25% from the same period last year), Japan (695,000 NT, down 41%) and Germany (656,000 NT, down 32%).
*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.
source: AISI
(To contact the reporter on this story: tina.tong@steelhome.cn or 86-21-50585733 15800777957) |
