Flat Rolled Steel Imports for January are Not Increasing
Feb / 06 / 2010 - Flat Rolled Steel Imports for January are Not Increasing
Analysis of the latest government data regarding international imports of steel into the U.S.A.
Below is the majority of an article published on the AISI website regarding steel import applications for the month of January. Below the release SMU did a quick analysis of the SIMA data ourselves as it relates to flat rolled steel.
AISI Article
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 1,537,000 net tons (NT). This was a 12% increase from the 1,377,000 permit tons recorded in December 2009 and a 10% increase from the December preliminary imports total of 1,396,000 NT. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in January was 1,179,000 NT, which was an increase of 6% from the preliminary imports total of 1,119,000 NT in December. January 2010 total and finished steel import permit tons would annualize at 18,447,000 NT and 14,153,000 NT, up 14% and down 0.1%, respectively, from the 16,201,000 NT and 14,165,000 NT imported in 2009
In January 2010, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for Korea (139,000 NT, up 34% from December), Japan (95,000 NT, down 7%), China (68,000 NT, up 45%), Italy (52,000 NT, up 5%) and The United Kingdom (39,000 NT, up 97%). Finished steel import market share in January is estimated at 17%
Finished steel import permits for major product categories that registered significant increases in January vs. the December 2009 preliminary include oil tubular country goods (up 97%), standard rails (up 77%), heavy structural shapes (up 44%), line pipe (32%) and standard pipe (up 16%). (Source: American Iron & Steel Institute)
SMU Research Found…
Preliminary hot rolled import license data suggests HR imports for January will remain relatively constant to the 141,203 metric tons (155,649 short tons) for December. There were 122,581 metric tons (135,122 short tons) of license applications as of Tuesday of this week. The big four countries importing HR into the U.S. are Canada, Korea, Australia and Mexico.
Preliminary cold rolled import license data suggest CR imports for January will remain relatively constant to the 80,622 metric tons (88,870 short tons) for December. Import license data reported as of Tuesday of this week was for 65,301 metric tons (71,981 short tons). There were only three countries requesting licenses in excess of 10,000 metric tons: Canada, Brazil and Mexico.
Preliminary galvanized import license data suggests Galvanized imports for January will be slightly higher (6-9%) than December when the U.S. imported 72,846 metric tons (80,299 short tons). There were 77,327 metric tons of import license applications (85,238 short tons) for January 2010 as of this past Tuesday. The only countries to exceed 10,000 metric tons are Canada, Korea and China. In the flat rolled steel arena this is the only product where we see any “surge” in Chinese product as they imported 4,485 metric tons (4,943 short tons) during December and they have requested import licenses to date of 12,299 metric tons (13,557 short tons).
