Posted on 07 Apr 2016
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in March was 2,120,000 NT, up 1% from the final imports total of 2,099,000 in February. The estimated finished steel import market share in March was 24% and is 25% year-to-date (YTD).
Finished steel imports with large increases in March permits vs. Feb ’16 final included standard rails (up 387%), cut lengths plates (up 62%), sheets and strip all other metallic coatings (up 19%), heavy structural shapes (up 16%) and wire drawn (up 11%).
In March, the largest finished steel import permit applications for offshore countries were for South Korea (342,000 NT, down 9% from February final), Turkey (224,000 NT up 8%), Japan (161,000 NT, up 41%), Germany (99,000 NT, up 23%) and China (67,000 NT, down 17%).
Through the first three months of 2016, the largest offshore suppliers were South Korea (960,000 NT, down 49% from the same period in 2015), Turkey (676,000 NT, down 32%) and Japan (464,000 NT, down 27%).
