Beam licenses year to date (YTD), through July 7^th totaled 292,467 tons, down 19.5% from last year’s YTD 363,416 tons. July to date license requests were for 17,535 tons, down substantially from the April, May, June average of 56,641 tons. Wide flange beams account for 65% and standard I beams make up the remaining 35%.

Figure 1 shows total Beam licenses through July for both 2016 and 2017 as reported by the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMA).

Figure 2 charts the YTD total by country for 2016 and 2017. South Korea’s license requests YTD through July total 74,505 tons down 17,292 tons YTD y/y, (-18.8%).  South Korea’s July month to date license requests stood at 3,689, down 77.1% from its April, May, June average of 16,115 tons. Luxembourg’s license requests YTD were 75,372, down 5,319 tons YTD y/y, (-7.6%). So far in July Luxembourg’s license total was 5,708 tons, down 51% from its April, May, June average of 11,655 tons. Spain was the next largest exporter with 45,965 tons YTD, down from its YTD 2016 level of 72,264 tons, (-36.4%). July license requests thus far were for just 11 tons down from its April, May, June average of 11,269 tons. Mexico YTD total license request was down 46.9% from its 27,975 tons in 2016. July’s license requests were for 1,400 tons down 39.8% from its April, May, June average of 2,328 tons. The United Kingdom YTD licenses total was 25,799 tons, double y/y, from YTD 2016 total of 12,870 tons. July’s license request for July was for 4,748 down 31.8% from its April, May, June average of 6,966 tons. Germany’s YTD stands at 11,616 tons, down 30% from its 2016 YTD total of 16,582 tons. Germany’s July’s to date licenses were for 1,032 tons 17.2% higher than its April, May, June average of 880 tons. The United Arab Emirates YTD license total was 12,832 tons, down 12% y/y from 2016 YTD total of 14,590 tons. The United Arab Emirates licensed zero tons in July.

So far in 2017 Russia has only licensed 222 tons compared to 26,179 tons for the first seven months of 2016. Russia did not request any tons for July. Canada’s total license requests YTD were for 12,626 tons, up 6.4% YTD y/y. July license requests from Canada were just 15 tons, down from its April, May, June average of 2,806 tons. Taiwan’s YTD total was 12,710 tons up 24%, from last year’s 10,249 tons. Taiwan license for July to date was for 666 tons, down 71.1% from its April, May, June average of 2,299 tons.

Clearly most of these countries are being very cautious as they await the recommended actions from the section 232 investigation on the effect of imports of steel on U.S. national security initiated by the Trump administration on May 24^th of this year.

At Gerdau we closely follow trade in long products steel since it has a profound impact on domestic market share and material pricing. We want you, our valued customers to have access to current information that can help you better plan and operate your businesses.