Total rolled steel imports increased by 10.8 percent in the three months through August compared to the three months through May. Sheet product imports rose by 14.3 percent on the same basis, according to final license data for August reported by the U.S. Commerce Department on Aug. 6.
The data is reported within the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system. An explanation of the methodology used to analyze the trade data is given at the end of this piece, together with notes describing SIMA. All volumes are reported in short tons.
The three-month moving average (3MMA) of rolled product imports in August was the highest since May 2015. The August increase was all in flat rolled. Semis and long products declined. Total rolled product licensed imports in the single month of August were 2,532,496 tons with a 3MMA of 2,727,510 tons. We prefer not to dwell on single-month results because of the extreme variability that can occur in individual products. In the comments below, we use three-month moving averages to give what we believe is the most accurate picture.
Figure 1 shows the 3MMA through August of licensed tons of semi-finished, flat and long products since January 2004.
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