Steel Markets

November import licenses fall to recent low

December 8, 2023

A count of November license applications suggests steel imports were at their lowest monthly level in 33 months (see Figure 1).

Import license applications fell below the 2-million-net-ton mark in November, coming in at just under 1,983,000 tons, according to data from the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. That’s a 10% decline from October’s final import count of almost 2,201,000 tons, and just 2% lower than November 2022 imports of 2,013,420 tons.

Licenses to import semi-finished steel bounced back after dipping in October, with November’s license count of 385,285 tons 17% higher month on month (MoM). Compared to the same month of 2022, November licenses are 63% higher.

Finished steel import licenses, meanwhile, were 15% lower MoM and 10% lower year on year (YoY) at almost 1,597,700 tons in November. Products seeing significant increases included line pipe greater than 16 inches in diameter, other metallic-coated sheet, hot-rolled bars, and galvanized sheet (see Table 1).

Licenses for other metallic-coated sheet products rose on higher monthly shipments from Mexico, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan.

Imports of line pipe with diameters greater than 16 inches look to have been at their highest monthly level so far this year, with 50,726 tons of licenses in November. The increase is due to a spike in shipments from Turkey, with nearly 23,530 tons of licenses counted in November.

As SMU has been reporting, domestic hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices have been surging, creating a growing gap in domestic vs. import pricing. SMU has been hearing of increasingly more attractive import offers coming from multiple countries. Because of this, an increase in imports is possible in the coming months.

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

We’ll take a deeper dive into November imports when preliminary figures are released later this month.

Laura Miller

Laura Miller is a reporter and editor for Steel Market Update. Since 2007, she has held various editorial and marketing positions with steel industry publications, associations, and mills. In 2021, after a five-year hiatus working across other industries, she returned to steel trade journalism, joining SMU in 2022. She is a member of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries and a past-president of the AWMI Pittsburgh Chapter. She holds a BA in Latin American Studies from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at laura@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-759-7869.