Steel Products Prices North America

October Foreign Steel Import Licenses Show Big Jump in Semifinished

Written by Brett Linton

October 24, 2019

As expected, import licenses for semifinished steel have seen a big jump in October, the first month of the fourth quarter, as domestic mills seek to secure needed slabs ahead of quarterly quota restrictions on imports from Brazil and other nations.

Steel Market Update’s forecast of import licenses for the entire month show semifinished imports on track to top a million tons, similar to the 1.17 million ton total in July leading off the third quarter.

October finished steel imports are trending toward 1.6 million tons, about the same level as September and below average for the year.

By product, import licenses show a significant increase for galvanized and a significant decrease for hot rolled and cold rolled this month versus September.

Editor’s note: The semifinished and total steel calculations in the “October License Data Trending” column in the table below have been adjusted to account for the 666,836-ton jump in semifinished import licenses from Brazil this month.

Brett Linton

Brett Linton is a digital operations analyst for Steel Market Update, where he began his career. Linton has been in the steel industry since 2010. He has held roles as a category manager and strategic insights director at Reibus before returning to SMU in 2024. He is a graduate of The University of North Georgia with a degree in Finance and Accounting. Brett can be reached at brett@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-314-0179.

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