August Import Licenses Fall to Lowest Level So Far This Year

That’s a 7% month-on-month dip from July’s 2,373,413 tons of imported steel and the lowest monthly level for imports in the past eight months.

Compared to a year ago, August’s licenses were down 12%.

Licenses to import finished steel were down just 2% from July’s imports, while semi-finished steel licenses dropped 22%.

Flat-rolled steel was the only major product category to see a month-on-month (MoM) rise, with overall licenses up 3% from July imports.

Hot-rolled sheet, cut-to-length plate, and other metallic coated products saw notable MoM rises of 17%, 31%, and 50%, respectively.

Licenses to import other metallic coated products from Vietnam and Taiwan were noticeably higher in August, as were CTL plate licenses from South Korea.

Compared to year-ago levels, licenses for most high-volume flat-rolled products were down by double-digits. CTL plate was the only exception, with 66,644 tons of licenses in August marking an increase of 64% over August 2022.

Recall that license counts can differ from preliminary and final figures, as licenses are required to be obtained before actual importation.

We’ll take a deeper look at August imports when preliminary figures are released later this month.