Steel export to US may fall by 9-14 MT after Donald Trump's duty hike

Export of steel to the US from various countries is likely to fall by 9-14 million tonne(MT) as Trump government decides to impose higher tariff on import of steel and aluminium, says a report.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he would impose 25 per cent import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium to protect US producers.

"We estimate that steel exports to the US by other countries can decline by 9-14 MT due to imposition of higher import duties and ramp-up in its domestic steel mill utilisation rates by 80-85 per cent from 72 per cent at present," said a report by Kotak Institutional Equities.


The US produced 82 MT steel in 2017 and imported 36 MT.

Major steel exporters to the US comprise Canada, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Russia which together account for close to 60 per cent of the shipments. India exported close to 0.9 MT steel to America in 2017.

The report further said it "expects a low direct impact of US trade protection on the global steel markets 9-14 MT is close to 2-3 per cent of global steel trade of 460 MT and 0.6-0.9 per cent of the global steel demand."

The report was titled 'Kotak Metals and Mining (Attractive): US import tariffs - expect limited impact'.