During 2023, the United States of America imported US$86.4 billion worth of goods related to iron and steel from its global trade partners. That total includes both iron and steel as materials plus products made from those metals.

The total value of US iron and steel imports registered a 32.2% increase from $65.4 billion 5 years earlier in 2019.

From 2022 to 2023, America’s purchases of iron and steel materials plus products fell by -18.6% starting from $106.1 billion.

Drilling down from that overall dollar metric, American importers spent 61.6% ($53.2 billion) on imported products made from iron or steel. In comparison, 38.4% ($33.2 billion) was earmarked for importing iron or steel as metal materials.

Among sourcing countries, the People’s Republic of China supplied about one-seventh (14.3%) of America’s overall spending on iron and steel-related imports behind Canada at 16.6% but ahead of Mexico at 13.4%.

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

America’s top 15 suppliers of iron and steel in 2023 collected $72.8 billion worth of sales to the United States during 2023, or 84.3% of America’s overall total spending on those commodities.

Another metric indicating the concentration of US iron and steel suppliers is that the top 5 providers below accounted for almost three-fifths (56.2%) of the overall value for America’s imports of iron and steel-related products.

1. Canada: US$14.3 billion (16.6% of US iron/steel imports)
2. mainland China: $12.3 billion (14.3%)
3. Mexico: $11.6 billion (13.4%)
4. South Korea: $5.4 billion (6.2%)
5. Brazil: $5 billion (5.7%)
6. Taiwan: $4.4 billion (5.1%)
7. Germany: $4.1 billion (4.7%)
8. India: $3.4 billion (3.9%)
9. Japan: $3.3 billion (3.8%)
10. Italy: $2.5 billion (2.8%)
11. Vietnam: $1.7 billion (2%)
12. Thailand: $1.6 billion (1.8%)
13. United Kingdom: $1.17 billion (1.4%)
14. Spain: $1.12 billion (1.3%)
15. Netherlands: $1.08 billion (1.3%)

Fastest growers from 2019 to 2023 among these top suppliers to the United States were India (up 93.9% from 2019), Spain (up 61.2%), Canada (up 60.9%), Italy (up 60.1%) then Mexico (up 58.2%).

Russia was the most modest gainer for buying imported US steel and iron plus related goods over the 5-year period, recording a 0.2% upturn.

US Imports of Iron and Steel Materials

Focusing in on iron and steel metals reported as materials under HTS code 72, America bought $33.2 billion worth of the metals iron and steel on global markets during 2023. That dollar amount reflects a 35.4% acceleration compared to $24.5 billion in 2019 and a -26.2% downtick from 2022 to 2023.

Below are the top 15 suppliers of iron and steel materials to the US for 2023. Collectively, they generated over four-fifths (82.1%) of total US imports for these metals.

1. Canada: US$8.36 billion (up 73.5% since 2019)
2. Brazil: $4.6 billion (up 29.1%)
3. Mexico: $3.7 billion (up 74.3%)
4. South Korea: $2 billion (up 27.9%)
5. Germany: $1.54 billion (up 56.7%)
6. Japan: $1.24 billion (up 19.2%)
7. Taiwan: $784.8 million (up 32.6%)
8. Netherlands: $766 million (up 53.7%)
9. Sweden: $733.9 million (up 48.9%)
10. Italy: $710.7 million (up 26.1%)
11. mainland China: $613 million (up 15.4%)
12. Trinidad and Tobago: $592.6 million (down -0.8%)
13. Ukraine: $539 million (down -10.4%)
14. South Africa: $510.6 million (down -15.8%)
15. India: $505.1 million (up 166.7%)

The fastest growers among these top 15 suppliers expanded their sales of iron or steel as metals materials to the US from 2019 to 2023 were India (up 166.7%), Mexico (up 74.3%), Canada (up 73.5%), Germany (up 56.7%) then the Netherlands (up 53.7%).

The severest decliners in supplying iron and steel metals to America over the 5-year period was South Africa (down -15.8%) and Ukraine (down -10.4%).

US Imports of Products Made from Iron or Steel

As for actual products reported under HTS code 73, America imported $53.2 billion worth of products made from iron or steel in 2023. That dollar amount reflects a 30.3% increase from $40.9 billion during 2019 but a -12.9% year-on-year decline compared to $61.2 billion for 2022.

Below are America’s top 15 suppliers of products made from iron and steel. Collectively, these 15 countries generated 89.1% of all iron or steel items that the US imported during 2023.

1. mainland China: US$11.7 billion (22% of US imported items made from iron/steel)
2. Mexico: $7.9 billion (14.8%)
3. Canada: $5.9 billion (11.2%)
4. Taiwan: $3.6 billion (6.8%)
5. South Korea: $3.4 billion (6.3%)
6. India: $2.9 billion (5.4%)
7. Germany: $2.5 billion (4.7%)
8. Japan: $2 billion (3.8%)
9. Italy: $1.7 billion (3.3%)
10. Thailand: $1.5 billion (2.8%)
11. Vietnam: $1.3 billion (2.5%)
12. Spain: $849.1 million (1.6%)
13. Austria: $749.5 million (1.4%)
14. United Kingdom: $679.2 million (1.3%)
15. France: $663 million (1.2%)

The following top suppliers grew their sales to US importers at the fastest pace since 2019: Austria (up 106%), Spain (up 101.7%), India (up 101.7%), India (up 85%) then Italy (up 79.7%).

The only decline was realized by providers in mainland China recording a modest -0.5% slowdown from 2019.

Searchable List of US Overall Iron and Steel Suppliers

The table below shows the dollar amount for the top 100 iron and steel related suppliers for US importers in 2023. The dollar amount includes both materials and goods made from iron or steel.

Also shown is the percentage value change for each supplier since 2019.

Rank	Supplier	Iron/Steel Imports	2019-23
1	India	$3,388,031,000	+93.9%
2	Spain	$1,118,169,000	+61.2%
3	Canada	$14,310,495,000	+60.9%
4	Italy	$2,459,974,000	+60.1%
5	Mexico	$11,592,162,000	+58.2%
6	Vietnam	$1,742,566,000	+47.4%
7	Netherlands	$1,082,284,000	+47.1%
8	Thailand	$1,569,476,000	+42.7%
9	South Korea	$5,383,391,000	+42.6%
10	Germany	$4,067,773,000	+37.7%
11	Brazil	$4,951,936,000	+34.1%
12	United Kingdom	$1,169,430,000	+29.6%
13	Taiwan	$4,419,657,000	+17.3%
14	Japan	$3,258,104,000	+13.5%
15	mainland China	$12,327,654,000	+0.2%
16	Austria	$1,070,400,000	+69.6%
17	France	$1,033,043,000	+47.2%
18	Sweden	$942,208,000	+42.6%
19	Türkiye	$770,163,000	+62.2%
20	Ukraine	$727,763,000	-5.7%
21	Malaysia	$623,662,000	+18.7%
22	South Africa	$618,480,000	-10.0%
23	Trinidad/Tobago	$592,838,000	-0.9%
24	Romania	$536,574,000	+142.6%
25	United Arab Emirates	$501,491,000	+38.3%
26	Australia	$487,711,000	+1.8%
27	Belgium	$484,112,000	+77.2%
28	Kazakhstan	$308,710,000	+82.1%
29	Algeria	$305,862,000	+672.4%
30	Poland	$288,785,000	+95.6%
31	Portugal	$279,323,000	+185.3%
32	Czech Republic	$243,342,000	-11.8%
33	Chile	$242,070,000	+128.2%
34	Indonesia	$232,611,000	-11.6%
35	Egypt	$231,306,000	+181.0%
36	Luxembourg	$220,295,000	+35.1%
37	Switzerland	$219,126,000	-3.8%
38	Russia	$207,834,000	-87.4%
39	Argentina	$203,351,000	-25.6%
40	Finland	$189,571,000	+47.7%
41	Norway	$178,453,000	-6.9%
42	Moldova	$149,214,000	+33.8%
43	Laos	$143,279,000	-55.4%
44	Rwanda	$142,330,000	+34.5%
45	Denmark	$141,733,000	+59.0%
46	Colombia	$138,949,000	+44.0%
47	Equatorial Guinea	$131,621,000	+567.9%
48	Namibia	$130,550,000	+35.1%
49	Mauritius	$127,223,000	+56.0%
50	Saudi Arabia	$125,241,000	-2.1%
51	Venezuela	$122,836,000	+433.9%
52	Sudan	$122,195,000	-35.3%
53	Belarus	$121,979,000	-93.3%
54	Papua New Guinea	$116,739,000	+8.5%
55	Guyana	$116,534,000	+157.2%
56	Brunei Darussalam	$115,728,000	-25.4%
57	Iceland	$106,909,000	+77.3%
58	Oman	$103,016,000	-39.3%
59	Philippines	$99,758,000	+20.5%
60	Slovenia	$99,659,000	+16.4%
61	Togo	$99,348,000	+18.3%
62	Lithuania	$92,661,000	+455.9%
63	Botswana	$91,884,000	+34.2%
64	Maldives	$88,810,000	+0.9%
65	Malta	$87,860,000	+128.4%
66	Mali	$81,616,000	-25.4%
67	Niger	$79,985,000	+72.1%
68	Burundi	$78,714,000	+47.2%
69	Bhutan	$75,199,000	+34.8%
70	Afghanistan	$75,196,000	-77.8%
71	Montenegro	$72,526,000	+2.3%
72	Gambia	$70,444,000	+1111.4%
73	Sierra Leone	$68,782,000	+98.0%
74	Palestine	$64,709,000	-78.1%
75	Georgia	$64,183,000	-43.6%
76	Zimbabwe	$62,678,000	+212.2%
77	Turkmenistan	$62,649,000	-29.2%
78	Fiji	$61,339,000	+0.1%
79	Greece	$60,012,000	-48.7%
80	Slovakia	$54,300,000	+30.6%
81	Dominican Republic	$54,076,000	-32.1%
82	Sri Lanka	$52,483,000	+39.4%
83	New Zealand	$52,393,000	+230.5%
84	Cuba	$49,708,000	-79.1%
85	Mauritania	$49,586,000	+34.5%
86	Congo	$48,250,000	+170.8%
87	Samoa	$45,519,000	+672.0%
88	Gabon	$41,013,000	+19.8%
89	Hungary	$38,584,000	+110.7%
90	Belize	$37,841,000	+57.6%
91	Malawi	$37,096,000	-52.6%
92	Singapore	$36,901,000	+8.7%
93	Guinea-Bissau	$36,766,000	+675.0%
94	Bulgaria	$36,455,000	-31.1%
95	Eswatini	$35,372,000	+14.1%
96	New Caledonia	$33,094,000	+22.5%
97	Ireland	$32,865,000	+88.4%
98	US Minor Outlying Is	$32,703,000	+116.3%
99	French Polynesia	$32,304,000	+71.5%
100	Iceland	$31,223,000	+78.0%

You can change presentation order by clicking the triangle icon at the top of the columns. An entry of 0% means that 2019 data was unavailable.

See also United States Top 10 Imports, 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 October 2, 2024

Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 2, 2024

Mohawk Global Logistics, HTS Codes Affected by New Steel and Aluminum Tariffs by Danielle Leonard. Accessed on October 2, 2024

Trade Map, International Trade Centre. Accessed on October 2, 2024