Finished steel import permit tons up 33 percent in 2010

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 December totaled 1,814,000 net tons (NT).

This was a 0.4 percent decrease from the 1,808,000 permit tons recorded in November and a 2 percent increase from the November preliminary imports total of 1,784,000 NT.

Import permit tonnage for finished steel in December was 1,445,000 NT, down 3 percent from the preliminary imports total of 1,495,000 NT in November. Total and finished steel import permit tons for full-year 2010 were 23,870,000 NT and 18,795,000 NT, up 47 percent and 33 percent, respectively, from the 16,215,000 NT and 14,179,000 NT imported in the recession year of 2009.