That dollar amount results from a 51.4% increase compared to $24.2 billion in spending five years earlier in 2018.
Year over year, the cost of total US spending on imported aluminum accelerated by 27.6% from $28.7 billion for 2021.
Aluminum is the world’s second-most used metal behind only iron. Typically blended into an alloy, aluminum is commonly combined with zinc, copper, silicon, magnesium and manganese. Pure aluminum is silvery-white, non-magnetic and is also notable for its low density, relatively light weight and resistance to corrosion.
America’s top 6 suppliers (Canada, mainland China, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and India) sold almost two-thirds (64.9%) worth of international aluminum provided to the United States in 2022.
Russia furnished 2.4% of global aluminum furnished to America, up from 2.3% for 2021.
US import data presented below is at the two-digit Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code level, specifically 76 for aluminum including articles made with aluminum.
Of the total American imports under HTS code 76 during 2022, 41.8% was for unwrought aluminum metal, 12.8% was aluminum plates and sheets, 7.5% was for miscellaneous items made from aluminum, 7.4% was for aluminum structures such as towers or bridges, 5.9% was for aluminum bars and rods, 5.6% was for aluminum foil, 5.2% was for aluminum tableware, kitchenware or other household items, 4.2% was for aluminum wire or cable including stranded versions, 3.8% was for aluminum scrap, 2.1% was for aluminum cans, boxes and similar containers, while about 1.5% was aluminum tubes, pipes, powder and similar miscellaneous goods.
Top 15 Countries Supplying Aluminum to America
Below are the 15 countries from which the United States purchases the highest dollar value worth of aluminum. These suppliers accounted for over four-fifths (83%) of all US aluminum imports during 2022.
- Canada: US$12.9 billion (35.3% of total US imported aluminum)
- China: $4 billion (11%)
- Mexico: $2.3 billion (6.2%)
- United Arab Emirates: $2 billion (5.4%)
- Bahrain: $1.3 billion (3.6%)
- India: $1.2 billion (3.3%)
- South Korea: $1 billion (2.8%)
- Thailand: $960.9 million (2.6%)
- Germany: $795.9 million (2.2%)
- Australia: $757.4 million (2.1%)
- Russia: $673.3 million (1.8%)
- Türkiye: $635 million (1.7%)
- Argentina: $633.1 million (1.7%)
- Vietnam: $588.4 million (1.6%)
- Colombia: $565.9 million (1.5%)
Note that North American trade partners, Canada and Mexico, accounted for 41.5% of all US aluminum imports. That percentage reflects a drop from 44.5% one year earlier.
Fastest-Growing Suppliers of Aluminum to the US
The following ranking is sorted in descending order. The list presents the top 15 suppliers of aluminum shipments to America based on the greatest percentage increases in the value from 2021 to 2022.
- South Korea: Up 109.3% from 2021
- Australia: Up 104.9%
- India: Up 95.4%
- Türkiye: Up 85.6%
- Argentina: Up 78.5%
- Vietnam: Up 72.2%
- Bahrain: Up 65%
- Thailand: Up 42.5%
- United Arab Emirates: Up 36.7%
- Colombia: Up 34.1%
- Germany: Up 26.1%
- Mexico: Up 25.1%
- Canada: Up 17.8%
- China: Up 10.4%
- Russia: Up 2.4%
The fastest-growing suppliers of aluminum to the United States of America originate from a diverse array of continents (South Korea and Vietnam in Asia; Australia in Oceania; Argentina in South America; and Mexico and Canada in North America.)
Supplier Countries Causing America the Greatest Aluminum Deficits
America does produce and sell its own aluminum on international markets. In 2022, the United States shipped $15.5 billion worth of aluminum to its trade partners. However, American revenues from exported aluminum fall far short of the $36.7 billion that the US spent on imported aluminum thus resulting in a -$21.2 billion product category trade deficit. That deficit reflects a increase from -$16.7 in red ink one year earlier for 2021.
Below you will find the 15 countries that caused America’s highest deficits from buying and selling aluminum on international markets, incurring a subtotal deficit amounting to -$16.7 billion for 2022.
- Canada: -US$9.3 billion (product deficit up 17.9% since 2021)
- China: -$3.8 billion (up 9.6%)
- United Arab Emirates: -$1.9 billion (up 37.5%)
- Bahrain: -$1.3 billion (up 63.9%)
- Australia: -$697.3 million (up 127.5%)
- Thailand: -$682.8 million (up 32.1%)
- Russia: -$666.2 million (up 19.4%)
- Argentina: -$622.1 million (up 81.4%)
- Germany: -$612.7 million (up 27.7%)
- Türkiye: -$550.2 million (up 87.6%)
- Colombia: -$540.5 million (up 33.7%)
- Vietnam: -$540.5 million (up 75.6%)
- Oman: -$525.5 million (up 53%)
- South Africa: -$485.8 million (down -7.4%)
- Qatar: -$391.9 million (up 66.6%)
Among these top suppliers, aluminum deficits at America’s expense expanded at the greatest percentage rates resulting from trade with: Australia (up 127.5% from 2021), Türkiye (up 87.6%), Argentina (up 81.4%), Vietnam (up 75.6%), Qatar (up 66.6%) and Bahrain (up 63.9%).
Searchable List of US Aluminum Suppliers
The table below shows the dollar amount for aluminum supplied to the US in 2022 by 100 key countries. Collectively, those countries represent 99.994% of the dollar value for America’s total aluminum imports.
Also shown is the percentage value change for each aluminum supplier since 2021.
| Rank | Supplier | Imported Aluminum | 2021-2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Canada | $12,936,483,000 | +17.8% |
| 2. | China | $4,040,482,000 | +10.4% |
| 3. | Mexico | $2,272,946,000 | +25.1% |
| 4. | United Arab Emirates | $1,992,147,000 | +36.7% |
| 5. | Bahrain | $1,336,946,000 | +65% |
| 6. | India | $1,218,559,000 | +95.4% |
| 7. | South Korea | $1,028,016,000 | +109.3% |
| 8. | Thailand | $960,937,000 | +42.5% |
| 9. | Germany | $795,930,000 | +26.1% |
| 10. | Australia | $757,433,000 | +104.9% |
| 11. | Russia | $673,323,000 | +2.4% |
| 12. | Türkiye | $634,980,000 | +85.6% |
| 13. | Argentina | $633,141,000 | +78.5% |
| 14. | Vietnam | $588,438,000 | +72.2% |
| 15. | Colombia | $565,927,000 | +34.1% |
| 16. | Oman | $527,801,000 | +53% |
| 17. | South Africa | $490,618,000 | -7.3% |
| 18. | Japan | $400,240,000 | +24.2% |
| 19. | Qatar | $395,492,000 | +66.1% |
| 20. | Brazil | $380,665,000 | +177.5% |
| 21. | Italy | $358,585,000 | +9.8% |
| 22. | Taiwan | $332,416,000 | +23.2% |
| 23. | Austria | $287,938,000 | +45.4% |
| 24. | United Kingdom | $271,489,000 | +17.9% |
| 25. | Saudi Arabia | $251,167,000 | -29.9% |
| 26. | Greece | $228,278,000 | +54.9% |
| 27. | Indonesia | $227,319,000 | +31.6% |
| 28. | Malaysia | $216,460,000 | +2.6% |
| 29. | France | $193,863,000 | +6.6% |
| 30. | Spain | $156,139,000 | -0.3% |
| 31. | Belgium | $125,581,000 | +41.4% |
| 32. | Sweden | $112,015,000 | +75.1% |
| 33. | Ecuador | $94,507,000 | +64.6% |
| 34. | Switzerland | $92,726,000 | +11.5% |
| 35. | Poland | $92,051,000 | +34.6% |
| 36. | Netherlands | $86,467,000 | -16.1% |
| 37. | Jordan | $82,800,000 | +118.8% |
| 38. | Dominican Republic | $80,435,000 | +14.3% |
| 39. | Norway | $79,624,000 | +94.1% |
| 40. | Azerbaijan | $51,179,000 | +6.5% |
| 41. | Bulgaria | $48,420,000 | +50.8% |
| 42. | Honduras | $47,691,000 | +40.1% |
| 43. | Slovenia | $43,252,000 | +17% |
| 44. | Hong Kong | $39,217,000 | +82.1% |
| 45 | Luxembourg | $38,500,000 | -9.6% |
| 46 | Israel | $33,599,000 | +4.1% |
| 47 | Hungary | $30,276,000 | -55.1% |
| 48 | Costa Rica | $29,220,000 | +14.8% |
| 49 | Denmark | $27,372,000 | -2.1% |
| 50 | Singapore | $24,110,000 | +18.8% |
| 51 | Egypt | $23,825,000 | -46.9% |
| 52 | Czech Republic | $22,283,000 | +37.1% |
| 53 | Chile | $18,147,000 | +70.4% |
| 54 | Guatemala | $16,810,000 | -17.5% |
| 55 | El Salvador | $15,661,000 | +43.4% |
| 56 | Portugal | $13,344,000 | +64.1% |
| 57 | Slovakia | $13,197,000 | +120% |
| 58 | Cambodia | $10,935,000 | +4% |
| 59 | Philippines | $10,408,000 | -8.3% |
| 60 | Venezuela | $10,193,000 | +246.7% |
| 61 | Panama | $8,764,000 | +54.2% |
| 62 | Myanmar | $8,292,000 | -13.8% |
| 63 | Romania | $8,082,000 | -62.8% |
| 64 | New Zealand | $7,181,000 | +107.4% |
| 65 | Finland | $7,168,000 | +8.3% |
| 66 | Croatia | $6,622,000 | -62.8% |
| 67 | Serbia | $5,021,000 | +0.4% |
| 68 | Ireland | $4,224,000 | -1.8% |
| 69. | Pakistan | $3,790,000 | -27.2% |
| 70. | Sri Lanka | $3,179,000 | -54.2% |
| 71. | Albania | $2,850,000 | +136.9% |
| 72. | Peru | $2,523,000 | -15.9% |
| 73. | Algeria | $2,520,000 | +83900% |
| 74. | Bolivia | $2,298,000 | -43.3% |
| 75. | Armenia | $2,281,000 | -87.2% |
| 76. | Ukraine | $2,149,000 | -25.5% |
| 77. | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $1,974,000 | +49.7% |
| 78. | Lebanon | $1,808,000 | +1574% |
| 79. | Belarus | $1,451,000 | -46.9% |
| 80. | Lithuania | $1,254,000 | +42% |
| 81. | Bahamas | $1,122,000 | -12.4% |
| 82. | Tunisia | $1,111,000 | -56.6% |
| 83. | Estonia | $1,045,000 | -42.4% |
| 84. | Georgia | $1,017,000 | +432.5% |
| 85. | Nicaragua | $813,000 | +95.4% |
| 86. | Uzbekistan | $693,000 | +566.3% |
| 87. | Cayman Islands | $610,000 | +103.3% |
| 88. | Jamaica | $570,000 | +131.7% |
| 89. | Curaçao | $541,000 | -5.1% |
| 90. | Mozambique | $491,000 | +16267% |
| 91. | Barbados | $472,000 | +21.3% |
| 92. | Bangladesh | $440,000 | +21.2% |
| 93. | Trinidad/Tobago | $400,000 | -20.6% |
| 94. | Kazakhstan | $398,000 | +62.4% |
| 95. | Haiti | $309,000 | -48% |
| 96. | Cyprus | $264,000 | +266.7% |
| 97. | Iceland | $260,000 | +68.8% |
| 98. | Gibraltar | $200,000 | 0% |
| 99. | Latvia | $184,000 | -67% |
| 100. | North Macedonia | $183,000 | +510% |
You can change presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the above columns. An entry of 0% in the right-most column means that 2022 data was unavailable.
See also US Iron and Steel Imports by Supplier Countries, America’s Top Trading Partners, United States Top 10 Imports and Top Aluminum Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on July 20, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on July 20, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on July 20, 2023
SoftSchools.com, Aluminum Facts, Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on July 20, 2023
Wikipedia, Aluminium. Accessed on July 20, 2023
Wikipedia, Category:Aluminum companies by country. Accessed on July 20, 2023
