The total value of US iron and steel-related imports registered a -2.1% decrease from 2016 to 2020. From 2019 to 2020, America’s purchases of iron and steel shrank by -16.5%.
Drilling down from that overall dollar metric, American importers spent 65.7% ($36.1 billion) on imported products made from iron or steel. In comparison, 34.3% ($18.8 billion) went to importing iron or steel in its metal form.
Among countries, the People’s Republic of China collected almost a third (32.1%) of America’s overall spending on iron and steel-related imports trailed by Mexico at 13.5% then Canada at 10%.
The Harmonized Tariff System (HTS) code prefix is 72 for iron and steel as materials and 73 for products made from iron or steel.
Countries Exporting Iron and Steel to America
Top 15
America’s top 15 suppliers of iron and steel in 2020 earned $46.3 billion in sales to the US during 2020, or 84.4% of the overall total equal to $54.9 billion. Almost three-fifths (59.7%) of the overall value were sourced from the top five providers listed below.
- China: US$11.9 billion (21.7% of US iron/steel imports)
- Canada: $8.1 billion (14.7%)
- Mexico: $6.8 billion (12.4%)
- Taiwan: $3.3 billion (6%)
- South Korea: $2.7 billion (4.9%)
- Brazil: $2.4 billion (4.3%)
- Germany: $2.2 billion (4%)
- Japan: $2.1 billion (3.8%)
- India: $1.5 billion (2.7%)
- Italy: $1.1 billion (2%)
- Russia: $993.5 million (1.8%)
- Thailand: $975.7 million (1.78%)
- Vietnam: $888.4 million (1.6%)
- United Kingdom: $755 million (1.4%)
- Ukraine: $718.6 million (1.3%)
Fastest growers from 2016 to 2020 among these top suppliers were Ukraine (up 138%), Thailand (up 57.5%), Mexico (up 24.5%) then India (up 15.7%).
Leading the decliners over the 5-year period were Japan (down -33.1%), Russia (down -31.3%), South Korea (down -25.2%) then the United Kingdom (down -19.8%).
Materials
Focusing on iron and steel metals reported as materials under HTS code 72, America imported $18.8 billion worth of iron and steel in 2020. That dollar amount reflects a -16.3% decline from 2016 and a -23.6% downtick from 2019 to 2020.
Tellingly, America incurred a -$14.7 billion deficit from importing and exporting iron and steel materials in 2020. That product deficit shrank by -31.9% from -$9.6 billion in 2016 and declined by -36.2% since 2019.
Below are the top 15 suppliers of iron and steel materials to the US for 2020. Collectively, they account for over four-fifths (83.5%) of total US imports for these metals.
- Canada: US$4.5 billion (23.7% of US iron/steel imported as metal)
- Brazil: $2.2 billion (11.7%)
- Mexico: $1.9 billion (10.3%)
- South Korea: $1.2 billion (6.2%)
- Russia: $940.1 million (5%)
- Germany: $770.3 million (4.1%)
- Japan: $741 million (3.9%)
- Ukraine: $662.3 million (3.5%)
- Taiwan: $511 million (2.7%)
- Netherlands: $438.2 million (2.3%)
- Trinidad/Tobago: $436.9 million (2.3%)
- Sweden: $395.6 million (2.1%)
- South Africa: $385.5 million (2.1%)
- China: $340.9 million (1.8%)
- Australia: $314.2 million (1.7%)
Six countries among these top 15 suppliers expanded their sales of iron or steel as metals materials to the US from 2016 to 2020 namely Ukraine (up 140.8%), Australia (up 37%), Trinidad and Tobago (up 32.6%), Mexico (up 30.7%), Canada (up 5.4%) and Brazil (up 1%).
Leading the decliners over the 5-year period were China (down -50%), Japan (down -43.5%), Taiwan (down -41.5%), South Korea (down -36.7%) and the Russian Federation (down -31.9%)
Goods
As for actual products reported under HTS code 73, America imported $36.1 billion worth of products made from iron or steel in 2020. That dollar amount reflects a 7.4% increase since 2016 but a -12.3% downtick from 2019 to 2020.
From a trade balance perspective, America incurred a -$20.1 billion deficit from importing and exporting goods made from iron and steel during 2020. That product deficit swelled by 24.8% from -$16.1 billion in red ink during 2016 but reduced by -10.5% from 2019 to 2020.
Below are America’s top 15 suppliers of products made from iron and steel. Collectively, these 15 countries generated 90.5% of all iron or steel items that the US imported during 2020.
- China: US$11.6 billion (32.1% of US-imported items made from iron/steel)
- Mexico: $4.9 billion (13.5%)
- Canada: $3.6 billion (10%)
- Taiwan: $2.8 billion (7.7%)
- South Korea: $1.5 billion (4.3%)
- Germany: $1.4 billion (3.9%)
- Japan: $1.4 billion (3.8%)
- India: $1.3 billion (3.7%)
- Thailand: $934.5 million (2.6%)
- Italy: $791.7 million (2.2%)
- Vietnam: $707.9 million (1.96%)
- Spain: $519.5 million (1.44%)
- United Kingdom: $448.4 million (1.24%)
- Malaysia: $439.6 million (1.22%)
- France: $359.2 million (1%)
Since 2016, the following top suppliers grew their sales to the US at the fastest pace: Malaysia (up 149.6%), Vietnam (up 96.9%), Thailand (up 64.3%) then Spain (up 38.2%).
Leading the decliners were Japan (down -25.8%), South Korea (down -13.2%) then Italy (down -11.8%).
Searchable List of US Overall Iron and Steel Suppliers
The table below shows the dollar amount for iron and steel related imports by the US in 2020 by country, including both materials and goods made from iron or steel. Also shown is the percentage value change for each supplier since 2016.
| Rank | Supplier | Iron/Steel Imports (US$) | 2016-20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $11,918,772 | +138% |
| 2 | Canada | $8,070,230 | +57.5% |
| 3 | Mexico | $6,795,206 | +24.5% |
| 4 | Taiwan | $3,298,728 | +15.7% |
| 5 | South Korea | $2,701,167 | +4.7% |
| 6 | Brazil | $2,386,055 | +4% |
| 7 | Germany | $2,168,519 | +3.2% |
| 8 | Japan | $2,101,306 | +1.6% |
| 9 | India | $1,467,950 | -0.9% |
| 10 | Italy | $1,097,501 | -18.2% |
| 11 | Russia | $993,473 | -18.9% |
| 12 | Thailand | $975,653 | -19.8% |
| 13 | Vietnam | $888,350 | -25.2% |
| 14 | United Kingdom | $755,039 | -31.3% |
| 15 | Ukraine | $718,602 | -33.1% |
| 16 | Spain | $687,682 | +20.3% |
| 17 | Netherlands | $659,388 | -15.3% |
| 18 | Sweden | $534,403 | -18.3% |
| 19 | Turkey | $521,257 | -59.6% |
| 20 | France | $519,913 | -34.2% |
| 21 | Malaysia | $510,939 | +146.6% |
| 22 | Austria | $454,713 | -4.3% |
| 23 | Trinidad and Tobago | $438,302 | +33% |
| 24 | South Africa | $420,360 | -25.9% |
| 25 | Australia | $377,093 | +40.8% |
| 26 | Czech Republic | $248,738 | -5.9% |
| 27 | United Arab Emirates | $242,264 | -4.7% |
| 28 | Indonesia | $203,791 | -1.2% |
| 29 | Switzerland | $193,141 | +4.9% |
| 30 | Romania | $167,919 | +77.4% |
| 31 | Finland | $166,595 | -6.7% |
| 32 | Belgium | $155,309 | -47.6% |
| 33 | Poland | $150,658 | +49.4% |
| 34 | Kazakhstan | $135,420 | +51.1% |
| 35 | Denmark | $127,249 | +54.2% |
| 36 | Portugal | $124,613 | -3.9% |
| 37 | Oman | $123,554 | +54% |
| 38 | Norway | $122,541 | +188.7% |
| 39 | Israel | $115,388 | +29.3% |
| 40 | Georgia | $94,233 | -50.6% |
| 41 | Chile | $86,433 | +208.9% |
| 42 | Slovenia | $81,771 | +356.4% |
| 43 | Luxembourg | $76,763 | +34% |
| 44 | Argentina | $74,775 | +102.4% |
| 45 | Dominican Republic | $71,015 | -31.3% |
| 46 | Saudi Arabia | $58,728 | -11.1% |
| 47 | Colombia | $50,049 | +191.6% |
| 48 | Slovakia | $36,621 | No 2016 data |
| 49 | New Zealand | $36,129 | -22.3% |
| 50 | Singapore | $34,680 | -40.1% |
| 51 | Egypt | $27,203 | +20.8% |
| 52 | New Caledonia | $26,106 | No 2016 data |
| 53 | Greece | $24,584 | -59.9% |
| 54 | Costa Rica | $22,009 | +110.3% |
| 55 | Ireland | $20,183 | +39336% |
| 56 | Belarus | $20,037 | +107.2% |
| 57 | Iceland | $17,695 | +71.3% |
| 58 | North Macedonia | $15,288 | +11.2% |
| 59 | Lithuania | $15,012 | +5.7% |
| 60 | Hungary | $13,620 | +54.2% |
| 61 | Hong Kong | $12,112 | +40.3% |
| 62 | Pakistan | $11,560 | -75% |
| 63 | Zimbabwe | $9,930 | -18.4% |
| 64 | Serbia | $8,707 | -57.1% |
| 65 | Bulgaria | $8,547 | +14% |
| 66 | Latvia | $8,006 | -52.5% |
| 67 | Paraguay | $6,723 | +210.8% |
| 68 | Estonia | $6,632 | +21% |
| 69 | Guatemala | $4,718 | +253% |
| 70 | Albania | $4,521 | No 2016 data |
| 71 | Algeria | $4,338 | +392% |
| 72 | Bosnia/Herzegovina | $2,524 | -3.5% |
| 73 | Peru | $2,144 | -81% |
| 74 | Honduras | $1,952 | -71.1% |
| 75 | Ecuador | $1,948 | +1418% |
| 76 | Panama | $1,659 | +405.7% |
| 77 | El Salvador | $1,480 | +29.2% |
| 78 | Morocco | $777 | +19% |
| 79 | Zambia | $526 | +42.8% |
| 80 | Bahrain | $436 | -15.5% |
| 81 | Cayman Islands | $428 | +102.8% |
| 82 | Haiti | $355 | -74% |
| 83 | Curaçao | $268 | -3.4% |
| 84 | Montenegro | $258 | -86.7% |
| 85 | Saint Kitts/Nevis | $215 | +100% |
| 86 | Uruguay | $158 | -68.4% |
| 87 | Bahamas | $96 | -91% |
| 88 | Jamaica | $95 | No 2016 data |
| 89 | Tunisia | $68 | No 2016 data |
| 90 | Barbados | $60 | 0% |
| 91 | Suriname | $45 | -14.9% |
| 92 | Bhutan | $41 | +44.4% |
| 93 | Philippines | $41 | -91.8% |
| 94 | Anguilla | $31 | -10% |
| 95 | Bermuda | $21 | +38% |
| 96 | British Virgin Islands | $18 | 0% |
| 97 | Bolivia | $18 | 0% |
| 98 | Saint Lucia | $14 | -84% |
| 99 | Antigua/Barbuda | $13 | +338.9% |
| 100 | St Vincent/Grenadines | $4 | 0% |
| 101 | Grenada | $3 | 0% |
You can change presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% means that 2016 data was unavailable.
See also US Uranium Imports by Supplying Country, US Aluminum Imports by Supplying Country and US Imported Cars by Supplier Countries
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on September 7, 2021
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on September 7, 2021
Mohawk Global Logistics, HTS Codes Affected by New Steel and Aluminum Tariffs by Danielle Leonard. Accessed on September 7, 2021
Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on September 7, 2021
