worldsteel releases indirect trade in steel data 2013 - 2023

From 2013 – 2023, indirect exports of steel for the 74 countries analyzed increased by 23% from 319 Mt in 2013 to 392 Mt in 2023. The volume of indirect trade in steel was equivalent in volume to 95% of direct exports in 2023.

Indirect exports, imports and net exports of steel, million tons (Mt), finished steel equivalent, 2013 – 2023

Indirect exports of steel, by sectors, million tons (Mt), finished steel equivalent

Definitions and sources

Indirect trade in steel takes place through exports and imports of goods that contain steel.

The trade data of fabricated goods (trade of steel-containing goods) are reported both in value and in volume terms. To process the indirect trade in steel calculations, it is necessary to count how much steel went into producing each manufactured product, namely the steel coefficients of each product, expressed in terms of the weight of the product. In worldsteel’s methodology, the steel coefficient is the amount of finished steel products (in tons) needed to produce one ton of a manufactured product.

For product classification, worldsteel’s indirect trade study has adopted the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) of the United Nations. HS codes of up to six-digits are used to define traded goods in a detailed way, which involved using approximately 1000 codes in the study.

Trade data and results of computations have been further synthesized in this study and presented for six commodity groups: metal products, mechanical machinery, electrical equipment, domestic appliances, automotive and other transport. These match conventional steel-using sector groupings used by worldsteel in the analysis of steel-weighted industrial production (SWIP).

The source of trade data used in the current indirect trade study is the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database (UN Comtrade).