Steel Products Prices North America
September 6, 2018
SIMA: Steel Import License Data for August
Written by Peter Wright
Are the Section 232 tariffs affecting the volume of steel imports? We will look at this several different ways, as the answer depends on what time frame is chosen for comparison. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Aug. 10 that since the imposition of Section 232 tariffs in March, imports to the U.S. have declined and capacity utilization has increased.
This early look at August’s import volume is based on license data (see explanation below). Figure 1 shows the tonnage of total rolled steel and semifinished imports through August on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis. Clearly, it’s not so obvious what is going on, especially as far as rolled products are concerned.
