The US was licensed to import 2.76 million tonnes of steel in January, according to data from the US International Trade Administration’s steel import monitoring system (SIMA), up by 5.18% from 2.62 million tonnes the previous month and by 25.35% from the 2.20 million tonnes shipped in January 2021.
Licenses for steel reinforcing bar (rebar) had the largest month-on-month jump at nearly 60%, an about-face from December when rebar import licenses reflected the steepest month-on-month decline.
Other products tracked by Fastmarkets that increased from the previous month were heavy structural shapes; bloom, billet and slab; and hot-rolled sheet, up by 54.80%, 9.47% and 3.61% respectively.
While most tracked products received fewer shipping licenses in January compared to December, the majority of the drops were relatively modest, with the exception of an 11.79% drop in licenses for coiled plate the next two steepest declines were by just 2.66% for hot-rolled bars and 2.45% for hot-dipped galvanized sheet and strip.
More than one-third of December’s steel import licenses were issued to Canada and Mexico – 532,458.1 and 528,590.8 tonnes respectively. These numbers were up from 506,937.5 tonnes for Canada and 501,869.7 tonnes for Mexico in December.
The bulk of Canada’s import licenses went to hot-rolled sheet, while Mexico primarily received licenses to ship slab and other semi-finished products.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment for steel rebar, import, loaded truck Port of Houston for immediate delivery was at $950-980 per ton ($47.50-49.00 per cwt) on February 9, up by 1.05% from $940-970 per ton the previous week.
