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| Steel import permit applications down 14 percent
Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring
and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported
that steel import permit applications for the month of November 2007 totaled
2,287,000 net tons (NT).
This was a 14 percent decrease from the 2,665,000 permit
tons recorded in October 2007, a 15 percent decrease from the October preliminary
imports total of 2,700,000 NT and 14 percent lower than the 2005 monthly
average (2006 was an all-time record year for imports).
Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November 2007
was 1,914,000 NT, equal to the preliminary imports of 1,913,000 NT in October.
Year-to-date in 2007 (11-month total, including November SIMA data) finished
steel imports remain 8 percent higher than the same period in 2005.
For November 2007, the largest volumes of steel import
permit applications for countries outside of North America were China (316,000
NT), Korea (152,000 NT) and Japan (102,000 NT). Finished steel import permit
applications for Chinese steel (316,000 NT) were up 4 percent in November
compared to the preliminary imports total for October. This tonnage for China,
while still below the 2006 record tonnage amounts that occurred in the second
half of last year, was 65 percent higher than the 2005 monthly average of
192,000 NT for China. |
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