AISI Releases January SIMA Imports Data

Finished Import Market Share Estimated at 25 Percent in January

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 January totaled 2,922,000 net tons (NT)*. This was a 23.4% increase from the 2,369,000 permit tons recorded in December and a 36.8% increase from the December final imports total of 2,135,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in January was 2,227,000, up 22.2% from the final imports total of 1,822,000 in December. The estimated finished steel import market share in January was 25 percent.

Steel imports with large increases in January permits vs. the December final imports include reinforcing bars (up 178%), heavy structural shapes (up 174%), blooms, billets and slabs (up 122%), oil country goods (up 72%) and line pipe (up 66%).

In January, the largest steel import permit applications were for Canada (624,000 NT, up 20% vs. December final), Brazil (543,000 NT, up 377%), Mexico (407,000 NT, up 25%), South Korea (220,000 NT, up 5%) and Germany (117,000 NT, up 22%).

*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.

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Contact: Lisa Harrison

202.452.7115 / lharrison@steel.org

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 (EAF) steelmakers reflecting the production of both carbon and stainless steels which are critical to the everyday lives of all Americans — including national security, roads and bridges, the electrical grid, clean energy technologies and the automotive market. AISI also represents 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.