US. Finished steel import permit tonnage up 17% in Dec., AISI says

US. Finished steel import permit tonnage up 17% in Dec., AISI says. U.S. steel traders say they have been able to emerge from hibernation in recent weeks based on increased steel import offers, and preliminary U.S. Census Bureau figures for finished steel imports now back that assessment. Steel import permit applications totaled 1,326,000 net tons in December, down 8.6 percent from 1,450,000 tons recorded in November but up 0.4 percent from November's preliminary import total of 1,321,000 tons, according to an American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) report based on preliminary data from the Census Bureau's Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system. Including preliminary November imports and SIMA permit tons for December, steel imports totaled 16,075,000 tons last year, down 49.7 percent from 31,927,000 tons in 2008. But import permit tonnage for finished steel jumped 17 percent in December to 1,116,000 tons from November's preliminary import tally of 954,000 tons. Finished steel imports for the full year (including preliminary November imports and SIMA permit tons for December) totaled 14,107,000 tons, down 45.7 percent from 25,956,000 tons in 2008.