What countries actually pay for steel
Import and export unit values by country and product, computed from published customs declarations. Real money that changed hands at a border — not a survey, not an index, and free to check against the source.
Last updated
- 7reporting markets
- 10product headings
- 45,572,756 timports covered, 2024
Country markets
Europe
Türkiye & CIS
Middle East
Africa
Products
Steel unit values by product, 2024
Median customs unit value across all reporting markets, USD per tonne
| Product | Heading | Import median | Export median | Markets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot-rolled coil and plate | HS 7208 | 724 | 810 | 32 |
| Cold-rolled sheet | HS 7209 | 835 | 893 | 32 |
| Galvanized and coated sheet | HS 7210 | 1,037 | 1,108 | 33 |
| Narrow coated strip | HS 7212 | 1,162 | 1,283 | 32 |
| Wire rod | HS 7213 | 669 | 694 | 33 |
| Hot-rolled bar | HS 7214 | 685 | 736 | 32 |
| Angles, shapes and sections | HS 7216 | 859 | 948 | 32 |
| Steel wire | HS 7217 | 1,099 | 1,157 | 32 |
| Welded tube, circular | HS 730630 | 1,297 | 1,384 | 33 |
| Welded hollow sections | HS 730661 | 1,102 | 1,006 | 33 |
Median of the reporting markets, not a weighted world average. Import and export medians differ because the two flows carry different product mixes — converters buy semi-finished and sell finished.
Common questions
What are current world steel prices?
The table below gives the median customs unit value for each HS heading across every reporting market in 2024, in USD per tonne, for imports and exports separately. These are declared border values, not mill quotations: they show what was actually paid, averaged over every specification inside the code.
Which index should I use to track steel prices?
For a weekly signal, a commercial assessment. For an independent, free and auditable cross-check, customs unit values — every tonne that crosses a border is counted and no judgement is applied. The two answer different questions, and disagreement between them is usually product mix rather than error.
Are steel prices rising or falling?
Each product page carries a year-by-year median with the change against the previous year, so the direction is read from the series rather than asserted here. Customs data is annual, which makes it a trend line rather than a spot signal.
Why do two countries show different prices for the same HS code?
Thickness, grade, coating and freight distance. A market importing thin commercial coil from a neighbour will always sit below one importing heavy normalised plate from another continent, even when the mill price is identical.
How to read these numbers
A customs unit value is the simplest honest price there is: someone declared a value and a weight at a border, and the division is the price. It has three properties that a market assessment does not. It is published, so anyone can recompute it. It is complete, covering every shipment rather than a panel of respondents. And it is slow — annual, arriving months after the year ends.
What it is not: a spot price. It blends grades, sizes and contract terms inside one heading, and it mixes long-term contracts with one-off shipments. Use it to see where a market sits and how lanes compare, then ask for a quotation for the tonne you actually want to buy.
Need a price for your size list?
Customs averages tell you where a market sits. A quotation tells you what your order costs. Send the sizes and the destination port.