Canada continues as the largest aluminium exporter to US in H1 2018; tariffs impact semi-finished import from China

According to the latest report from US Geological Survey, U.S. Trade Total imports of aluminiumfor consumption in the first half of 2018 stood at 3.37 million tonnes, 7% less than 3.61 million tonnes in the same period in 2017.

{newsStudioGallery}

Imports of crude metal and alloys dropped 11% and scrap import decreased by 4%. But imports of semi-fabricated products increased by 10% in comparison to the same period of 2017. Canada continued to be the leading source of imported aluminium materials, supplying 45% of all aluminium imports during the first 6 months of 2018, followed by the United Arab Emirates (10%), Russia (7%), China (6%), Mexico (4%) and Indonesia (3.6%).

Canada accounted for 51% of crude metal, 18% of semi-fabricated products, and 56% of scrap imports. The United Arab Emirates and Russia accounted for 14% and 10%, respectively, of crude metal imports. Mexico was the source of 25% of scrap imports.  

China, which has been continuously blamed by domestic aluminium companies for flooding the US market with cheaper products accounted for 27% of total semi-finished imports by the U.S. in H1 2018.  What is to be noted here is that after the implementation of tariffs and other AD and CVDs, China’s semi-finished export to the US has dropped significantly. The export volume dropped to just 5,310 tonnes in June 2018 from 44,800 tonnes in June 2017 and 22,000 tonnes in May 2018. The total export for the six months in 2018 has dropped to 200,000 tonnes from 230,000 tonnes in H1 2017.

Total exports of aluminium increased by 10% to stand at 1,530,000 tonnes during the first 6 months of 2018 compared with 1,390,000 tonnes in the same period of 2017. Exports of crude metal and alloys, semi-fabricated products, and scrap increased by 9%, 6% and 13%, respectively, compared with those in the same period of 2017. The leading destinations for total aluminium product exports during the first 6 months of 2018, in descending order of quantity, were Mexico (27%), China (22%), and Canada (21%).

Data shows, aluminium tariffs are affecting the total import of the US. The tariffs have not much impacted the import from Canada, the leading supplier of aluminium to the country but, it is affecting the import from China.