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Enhanced global steel trade monitoring
Steel Imports Report: United States
Background
The United States is the world’s largest steel importer (2019 ranking). In 2019, the U.S. imported 26.3 million metric tons of steel, a 15 percent decrease from 30.8 million metric tons in 2018. U.S. imports in 2019 represented about 8 percent of all steel imported globally, based on available data. The volume of U.S. steel imports in 2019 was more than 12 percent larger than that of the world’s second-largest importer, Germany in 2019. In value terms, steel represented just about 1 percent of the total goods imported into the United States in 2019 .
The United States imported steel from about 80 countries and territories in 2019. The 10 countries highlighted in the map below represent the top sources for U.S. imports of steel, with the U.S. receiving more than 530 thousand metric tons from each and together accounting for 78 percent of U.S. steel imports in 2019.
The United States’ deficit in steel products has persisted for well over a decade. Since mid-2009, imports have remained above their global recession related lows, while exports have remained relatively flat in comparison, and the trade deficit has widened accordingly. Since their most recent low year, imports have grown by 78 percent between 2009 and 2019, while exports have decreased by 8 percent. In 2019, the U.S. steel trade deficit amounted to 19.2 million metric tons, a 14 percent increase from 22.4 million metric tons in 2018.
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