That dollar amount results from a 148.8% increase compared to 2018 when stainless steel exports were worth $2.64 billion.
From 2021 to 2022, the value of globally exported stainless steel accelerated by 18.1% starting from $5.57 billion.
The 5 biggest exporters of stainless steel in 2022 are Indonesia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Italy and Germany. That powerful cohort generated 84.7% of exported stainless steel by value.
Among continents, exporters in Asia sold the highest dollar worth of exported stainless steel during 2022 with shipments valued at $4.4 billion or about two-thirds (66.6%) of world exports for that commodity. In second place were European exporters via a 30.4% share.
Smaller percentages came from providers in North America (2.4%), Latin America (0.4%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, Oceania (0.2%) mostly Australia, and Africa (0.1%).
For research purposes, the 4-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 7218 for stainless steel in primary forms including ingots.
Stainless Steel Exporters by Country
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of stainless steel during 2022.
- Indonesia: US$4.1 billion (61.8% of total stainless steel exports)
- United Kingdom: $811.5 million (12.3%)
- Sweden: $289.7 million (4.4%)
- Italy: $205.4 million (3.1%)
- Germany: $196.6 million (3%)
- South Korea: $136.3 million (2.1%)
- Spain: $119.3 million (1.8%)
- United States: $100.9 million (1.5%)
- Austria: $95.6 million (1.5%)
- Belgium: $92.1 million (1.4%)
- Taiwan: $70.6 million (1.1%)
- France: $63.1 million (1%)
- India: $57.4 million (0.9%)
- Canada: $53.7 million (0.8%)
- Netherlands: $31 million (0.5%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.2% of global stainless steel exported in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing stainless steel exporters from 2021 to 2022 were: South Korea (up 385.9%), Germany (up 262.6%), Spain (up 232.4%) and India (up 77.9%).
A trio of major suppliers posted declines in their sales of exported stainless steel, namely France (down -7.8% from 2021), Taiwan (down -6.8%) and Canada (down -0.1%).
Countries Generating Biggest Surpluses Trading Stainless Steel
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for stainless steel during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported stainless steel and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Indonesia: $4 billion (up 9.2% from 2021)
- United Kingdom: $764.2 million (up 21.2%)
- South Korea: $66.5 million (reversing a -$6.1 million deficit)
- Germany: $53.6 million (reversing a -$60.9 million deficit)
- Spain: $34.7 million (reversing a -$32.1 million deficit)
- Austria: $34.5 million (up 14.3%)
- Canada: $30.8 million (down -26.2%)
- Brazil: $27 million (reversing a -$1.047 million deficit)
- Denmark: $12.7 million (up 5.8%)
- Australia: $9.6 million (up 52.4%)
- Japan: $8 million (reversing a -$149,000 deficit)
- Belgium: $7.7 million (reversing a -$32.8 million deficit)
- Slovenia: $6.6 million (up 3.8%)
- Netherlands: $3.4 million (reversing a -$3.35 million deficit)
- Azerbaijan: $2.9 million (down -21.8%)
World-leading supplier Indonesia earned the highest surplus in the international trade of stainless steel. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Indonesia’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Posting Worst Deficits Trading Stainless Steel
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for stainless steel during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported stainless steel purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- mainland China: -US$3.6 billion (net export deficit up 27.7% since 2021)
- India: -$611.9 million (up 2434.2%)
- Taiwan: -$441.7 million (up 7%)
- France: -$368.5 million (up 307.8%)
- Sweden: -$258.1 million (down -7%)
- United States of America: -$219.7 million (up 55.7%)
- Portugal: -$87.4 million (up 90.9%)
- Italy: -$57.2 million (down -57.7%)
- Türkiye: -$50.6 million (down -60.6%)
- South Africa: -$31.6 million (down -22.4%)
- Vietnam: -$28.3 million (up 56.1%)
- Ukraine: -$22.6 million (up 46.9%)
- Czech Republic: -$17 million (up 233.2%)
- Switzerland: -$11.8 million (down -3.7%)
- Poland: -$10.4 million (up 17.1%)
The People’s Republic of China incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of stainless steel. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights China’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for stainless steel-supplying countries to help satisfy the powerful demand.
Stainless Steel Exporting Companies
Below are global stainless steel-processing conglomerates that represent established players engaged in the international trade of stainless steel. Each home country is shown within parenthesis.
- Acerinox, SA (Spain)
- British Steel Limited (United Kingdom)
- China Steel (Taiwan)
- Gruppo Riva (Italy)
- Nucor Corporation (United States)
- SSAB AB (Sweden)
- Tata Steel Limited (India)
- ThyssenKrupp AG (Germany)
- Vallourec (France)
- Voestalpine (Austria)
Searchable List of Stainless Steel Exporting Countries in 2022
As listed below, the 79 suppliers of stainless steel exporting to worldwide markets generated all international sales in 2022.
Rank | Exporter | Stainless Steel Exports | 2021-2 |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Indonesia | $4,064,165,000 | +9.1% |
2. | United Kingdom | $811,495,000 | +23.3% |
3. | Sweden | $289,673,000 | +22.5% |
4. | Italy | $205,374,000 | +71% |
5. | Germany | $196,612,000 | +262.6% |
6. | South Korea | $136,342,000 | +385.9% |
7. | Spain | $119,315,000 | +232.4% |
8. | United States | $100,932,000 | +7.9% |
9. | Austria | $95,617,000 | +15.5% |
10. | Belgium | $92,094,000 | +30.1% |
11. | Taiwan | $70,582,000 | -6.8% |
12. | France | $63,083,000 | -7.8% |
13. | India | $57,387,000 | +77.9% |
14. | Canada | $53,734,000 | -0.1% |
15. | Netherlands | $30,978,000 | +16.9% |
16. | Brazil | $28,393,000 | +6998% |
17. | Denmark | $17,954,000 | +13.7% |
18. | Japan | $16,361,000 | +164.5% |
19. | Czech Republic | $11,254,000 | +19% |
20. | Poland | $11,046,000 | +46.9% |
21. | Portugal | $10,559,000 | -26.7% |
22. | Vietnam | $10,521,000 | +3.9% |
23. | Australia | $10,354,000 | +55.9% |
24. | Finland | $9,016,000 | -88.2% |
25. | Slovenia | $7,842,000 | +5.9% |
26. | Singapore | $7,443,000 | +30.8% |
27. | Norway | $6,317,000 | -45.2% |
28. | Hungary | $4,734,000 | +10% |
29. | Russia | $4,419,000 | +1066% |
30. | Slovakia | $3,153,000 | +10.8% |
31. | Türkiye | $2,948,000 | +364.3% |
32. | Azerbaijan | $2,934,000 | -21.5% |
33. | United Arab Emirates | $2,714,000 | -38.1% |
34. | Ukraine | $2,571,000 | -18.9% |
35. | Serbia | $1,809,000 | +0.1% |
36. | South Africa | $1,745,000 | +145.1% |
37. | Switzerland | $1,596,000 | +6.3% |
38. | Croatia | $1,551,000 | +78.5% |
39. | Latvia | $1,303,000 | +123.5% |
40. | Zambia | $920,000 | -19.2% |
41. | China | $823,000 | -32.8% |
42. | Nigeria | $810,000 | -4% |
43. | Saudi Arabia | $591,000 | +9750% |
44. | Thailand | $545,000 | +29.1% |
45. | Romania | $484,000 | +706.7% |
46. | Malaysia | $482,000 | +41.8% |
47. | Hong Kong | $471,000 | +111.2% |
48. | Kazakhstan | $460,000 | +5650% |
49. | Lithuania | $316,000 | +89.2% |
50. | Estonia | $214,000 | -27% |
51. | Ireland | $199,000 | -84.8% |
52. | Greece | $131,000 | 0% |
53. | Mexico | $129,000 | 0% |
54. | Tunisia | $106,000 | -20.3% |
55. | Israel | $79,000 | +1480% |
56. | Luxembourg | $78,000 | +85.7% |
57. | Egypt | $61,000 | +771.4% |
58. | Uzbekistan | $56,000 | -49.1% |
59. | Uganda | $51,000 | 0% |
60. | Bahrain | $39,000 | -7.1% |
61. | Djibouti | $32,000 | 0% |
62. | Malawi | $31,000 | 0% |
63. | New Zealand | $24,000 | -79.1% |
64. | Pakistan | $23,000 | -48.9% |
65. | Algeria | $22,000 | 0% |
66. | Madagascar | $15,000 | 0% |
67. | Lebanon | $14,000 | -6.7% |
68. | Panama | $10,000 | -50% |
69. | Philippines | $8,000 | -84% |
70. | Mauritius | $8,000 | 0% |
71. | Bulgaria | $7,000 | -77.4% |
72. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $7,000 | +75% |
73. | Georgia | $5,000 | 0% |
74. | Iran | $4,000 | 0% |
75. | Chile | $4,000 | -33.3% |
76. | Uruguay | $3,000 | -94.1% |
77. | Democr. Rep. Congo | $2,000 | 0% |
78. | Sri Lanka | $1,000 | -96.9% |
79. | Peru | $1,000 | -92.3% |
You can change the presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2021 data was unavailable.
The fastest-growing exporters of stainless steel are Saudi Arabia (up 9,750% from 2021), Brazil (up 6,998%), Kazakhstan (up 5,650%), Israel (up 1,480%), Russia (up 1,066%), Egypt (up 771.4%), Romania (up 706.7%) then South Korea (up 385.9%).
Main Exporters of Stainless Steel Ranked by Shipment Weight
In 2022, the overall volume for worldwide shipments of stainless steel totaled 2.445 million tons. That physical tonnage is 117% higher than 5 years earlier in 2018 but slowing to a 2.9% gain compared to one year earlier in 2021.
The following 15 countries were responsible for 98.2% of the total shipment weight for stainless steel.
- Indonesia: 1,827,457 tons of exported stainless steel (up 0.01% from 2021)
- United Kingdom: 208,700 tons (down -4.6%)
- South Korea: 70,884 tons (up 535.7%)
- Germany: 57,459 tons (up 237.9%)
- Sweden: 53,893 tons (down -1.5%)
- Italy: 37,065 tons (up 19.6%)
- Belgium: 22,879 tons (down -4.7%)
- Spain: 19,816 tons (up 141.7%)
- India: 18,238 tons (up 8.9%)
- Austria: 15,606 tons (down -20.2%)
- Netherlands: 14,732 tons (up 9.4%)
- United States: 14,313 tons (down -18.8%)
- France: 14,043 tons (down -24.5%)
- Taiwan: 12,729 tons (down -31.3%)
- Canada: 12,035 tons (down -30%)
Posting the strongest growth in quantities of stainless steel exported from 2021 to 2022 were suppliers in South Korea (up 535.7%), Germany (up 237.9%), Spain (up 141.7%) and Italy (up 19.6%).
Average Unit Prices for Top Stainless Steel Exporters
For 2022, the worldwide average unit price for exported stainless steel was $2,689 per ton.
The global average price in 2022 is 14.7% higher than the $2,345 unit price for 2018. Year over year, the inflation rate for stainless steel exports grew by 14.8% compared to $2,343 per ton in 2021.
The following list itemizes the average unit prices for stainless steel exported by the top 15 international suppliers of stainless steel sorted by shipment value.
Also shown is the change in average unit prices per exporting country from 2021 to 2022.
- Indonesia: US$2,224 per ton of stainless steel (up 9% from 2021)
- United Kingdom: $3,888 per ton (up 29.2%)
- Sweden: $5,375 per ton (up 24.5%)
- Italy: $5,541 per ton (up 43%)
- Germany: $3,422 per ton (up 7.3%)
- South Korea: $1,923 per ton (down -23.6%)
- Spain: $6,021 per ton (up 37.5%)
- United States: $7,052 per ton (up 32.8%)
- Austria: $6,127 per ton (up 44.7%)
- Belgium: $4,025 per ton (up 36.5%)
- Taiwan: $5,545 per ton (up 35.8%)
- France: $4,492 per ton (up 22.1%)
- India: $3,147 per ton (up 63.4%)
- Canada: $4,465 per ton (up 42.8%)
- Netherlands: $2,103 per ton (up 6.9%)
Among the listed exporters of stainless steel, only Indonesia, South Korea and the Netherlands charged an average unit price less expensive than the global average price of $2,689 per ton.
The highest average prices were charged by stainless steel exporters in the United States of America, Austria, Spain and Taiwan.
See also Iron Ore Exports by Country, Copper Ore Exports bv Country, Top Nickel Exporters by Country, Top Cork Exporting Countries, Plastic Item Exports by Country and Top Aluminum Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 31, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on July 31, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 31, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 31, 2023
Wikipedia, List of steel producers. Accessed on July 31, 2023