Washington, D.C. – Based on the Commerce Department’s most recent Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) data, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported today that steel import permit applications for the month of November totaled 1,679,000 net tons (NT)*. This was a 4.5% increase from the 1,607,000 permit tons recorded in October and a 3.0% decrease from the October final imports total of 1,730,000. Import permit tonnage for finished steel in November was 1,130,000, down 15.4% from the final imports total of 1,335,000 in October. For the first eleven months of 2025 (including November SIMA permits and October final imports), total and finished steel imports were 23,704,000 NT and 17,550,000 NT, down 11.3% and 15.1%, respectively, from the same period in 2024. The estimated finished steel import market share in November was 14% and is 19% year-to-date (YTD).
Steel imports with large increases in November permits vs. October final imports include heavy structural shapes (up 79%), tin free steel (up 46%), blooms, billets and slabs (up 39%), line pipe (up 16%) and cut lengths plates (up 14%). Products with significant year-to-date (YTD) increases vs. the same period in 2024 include stainless pipe and tube (up 38%), tin plate (up 31%), line pipe (up 19%), oil country goods (up 17%) and wire rods (up 16%).
In November, the largest steel import permit applications were for Brazil (254,000 NT, down 14% from October final imports), Canada (252,000 NT, down 19%), South Korea (185,000 NT, up 44%), Mexico (163,000 NT, up 6%) and Japan (99,000 NT, up 29%). Through the first eleven months of 2025, the largest suppliers were Canada (4,285,000 NT, down 29%), Brazil (3,875,000 NT, down 12%) and Mexico (2,684,000 NT, down 16%).
*Note that import permits data are counts of tonnages requested in applications for licenses to import steel products and are not actual import volumes. For a number of reasons, permit tonnages may understate or overstate actual import volumes for the month, preliminary estimates of which will be available later this month.
