Steel products by HS code
One page per traded category: which countries import it, what they paid per tonne, and how the lanes compare.
Last updated
Every heading, with its spread across markets
Median and range of import unit values, 2024
| Product | Heading | Markets | Median USD/t | Range across markets | Tonnes imported |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot-rolled coil and plate | HS 7208 | 32 | 724 | 639 – 1,455 | 46,423,015 |
| Cold-rolled sheet | HS 7209 | 32 | 835 | 571 – 3,364 | 9,269,004 |
| Galvanized and coated sheet | HS 7210 | 33 | 1,037 | 727 – 1,257 | 26,155,530 |
| Narrow coated strip | HS 7212 | 32 | 1,162 | 77 – 2,509 | 2,075,757 |
| Wire rod | HS 7213 | 33 | 669 | 492 – 3,037 | 8,326,379 |
| Hot-rolled bar | HS 7214 | 32 | 685 | 265 – 987 | 9,624,017 |
| Angles, shapes and sections | HS 7216 | 32 | 859 | 324 – 1,164 | 9,401,609 |
| Steel wire | HS 7217 | 32 | 1,099 | 418 – 1,552 | 2,997,689 |
| Welded tube, circular | HS 730630 | 33 | 1,297 | 316 – 2,454 | 3,176,840 |
| Welded hollow sections | HS 730661 | 33 | 1,102 | 527 – 2,316 | 3,350,456 |
The range is the distance between the cheapest and the dearest reporting market for the same code. It is product mix and freight, not a price difference for the same item.
The HS heading is the unit of comparison
Steel trade is counted under the Harmonised System, a six-digit international code that every customs administration shares. Everything on this site is organised by heading rather than by commercial product name, because the heading is the only description that means the same thing in Istanbul, Rotterdam and Jeddah.
The headings are broad by design. HS 7208 covers hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy steel, not coiled, over 600 mm wide — which is several hundred real products, from 1.5 mm commercial coil to 25 mm structural plate. That breadth is what makes the unit value an average rather than a price, and knowing which end of a heading your product sits at is most of the skill in reading these pages.
Where the spread in a heading comes from
The range column on this page is the distance between the cheapest and the dearest reporting market for the same code, and it is routinely two to three times. Three things produce it.
Thickness and width: within a flat heading, thin and narrow material costs far more per tonne than thick and wide. Grade and certification: a structural grade with impact testing and a 3.2 certificate is a different animal from commercial quality under the same code. And freight: a CIF declaration into a distant market carries ocean freight that a neighbouring-country import does not.
Flat headings (7208–7212) spread widest, because gauge dominates the price.
Long-product headings (7213–7216) spread less; the mix inside them is narrower.
Tube headings (7305–7306) spread most of all, because they mix commodity and specialty.
The market count tells you how much weight the median deserves.
Import and export are two different populations
Each heading here carries both flows, and they routinely disagree by a wide margin in the same year. That is not an inconsistency — the two describe different trade. A converting economy imports semi-finished and commodity material and exports finished, higher-value product under a neighbouring code; an industrial economy does the reverse.
When the export unit value sits well above the import one for a heading, it usually means value is being added inside the reporting country. When it sits below, the country is more often a transit or re-export point. Neither pattern is visible in a single number, which is why both are published.
Following a heading over time
Each product page carries a year-by-year median across all reporting markets, with the change against the previous year. Because the underlying data is annual and complete, that series is a trend line rather than a spot signal — it answers "is this heading dearer than it was" and not "what will it cost next month".
A year enters the series only when enough markets reported it, so a thin year is left out rather than published as a number that would move on coverage instead of on price. The market count is shown beside each year so the reader can see what the median is standing on.
Common questions
What is an HS code for steel?
A six-digit customs classification. Chapter 72 covers iron and steel as a material — 7208 hot-rolled flat, 7209 cold-rolled, 7210 coated, 7213–7215 bar and rod, 7216 sections. Chapter 73 covers articles of steel, including 7305 and 7306 for tube and hollow sections.
Why is one HS heading so much more expensive than another?
Because the headings sit at different points of the processing chain. Each step — cold rolling, coating, forming into tube — adds cost and moves the product into a new code. A coated heading will always sit above the hot-rolled heading it was made from.
Does the unit value include freight?
It depends on the reporting country's practice. Many administrations record imports CIF, which includes freight and insurance, and exports FOB, which does not. That difference alone accounts for a noticeable part of the import–export gap in most markets.
How many markets stand behind each median?
It is in the table, one column per heading, and it varies from a handful to several dozen. A median built on eight or more reporting markets is published; below that the figure is shown for the heading but not carried into the year series.
Can I match an HS heading to a specific product?
Approximately. Each product page names the commercial products that normally fall under its heading and the specification boundaries — thickness, width, coating, alloy content — that move an item into a neighbouring code. Exact classification is a customs decision, not a commercial one.