China Armco Metals: News Around the Industry US Steel Import Permits Rise 21% in January 2012 Source: Washington DC (Scrap Monster) - 2012-02-03
US Steel import permit applications for the month of July rose 21% to 2,691,000 net tons as against 2, 230,000 permit tons in December, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).
AISI basing its report on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, said the January figures are 35% higher than the December preliminary imports total of 1,997,000 net tons.
mport permit tonnage for finished steel in January was 2,103,000 NT, up 39% from the preliminary imports total of 1,510,000 NT in December. January 2012 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 32,295,000 NT and 25,232,000 NT, up 14% and 16%, respectively, vs. the 28,448,000 NT and 21,871,000 NT imported in 2011. The estimated finished steel import market share in January was 23%.
In January, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Korea (358,000 NT, up 78% from December), Turkey (184,000 NT, up 179%), Japan (150,000 NT, up 45%), Germany (105,000 NT, up 25%) and China (95,000 NT, up 10%).
Finished steel import permits for products that registered large increases in January vs. the December preliminary include reinforcing bar (up 214%), heavy structural shapes (up 177%), cold rolled sheets (up 69%), cut length plates (up 68%), line pipe (up 64%), oil country goods (up 44%), standard pipe (up 43%) and sheets and strip all other metallic coated (up 34%).
“The January import numbers are another reminder that we need to be vigilant about the possibility of surges of unfairly trade steel to the United States this year, in the context of a still-fragile economic and steel market recovery,” Thomas J. Gibson, AISI president and CEO, said in commenting on the January 2012 SIMA data. http://www.armcometals.com/News/...e%2021%20in%20January%202012 |