U.S. Ball Bearing Parts Imports

In July 2023, imports of parts of ball or roller bearings into the United States shrank slightly to 6.7K tons, dropping by -1.7% compared with June 2023. In general, imports showed a slight decline. The most prominent rate of growth was recorded in June 2023 when imports increased by 25% m-o-m.

In value terms, ball bearing parts imports reduced to $39M (IndexBox estimates) in July 2023. Over the period under review, imports recorded a slight slump. The pace of growth appeared the most rapid in March 2023 when imports increased by 13% against the previous month.

Imports by Country

In July 2023, Japan (3.6K tons) constituted the largest ball bearing parts supplier to the United States, with a 54% share of total imports. Moreover, ball bearing parts imports from Japan exceeded the figures recorded by the second-largest supplier, China (963 tons), fourfold. The third position in this ranking was held by India (867 tons), with a 13% share.

From July 2022 to July 2023, the average monthly rate of growth in terms of volume from Japan stood at +3.2%. The remaining supplying countries recorded the following average monthly rates of imports growth: China (-4.2% per month) and India (-4.9% per month).

In value terms, Japan ($12M), India ($6.1M) and China ($4.6M) constituted the largest ball bearing parts suppliers to the United States, with a combined 58% share of total imports.

In terms of the main suppliers, Japan, with a CAGR of +0.8%, saw the highest growth rate of the value of imports, over the period under review, while purchases for the other leaders experienced a decline.

Import Prices by Country

In July 2023, the ball bearing parts price amounted to $5,863 per ton (CIF, US), with a decrease of -5.1% against the previous month. Overall, the import price showed a relatively flat trend pattern. The most prominent rate of growth was recorded in January 2023 when the average import price increased by 9.5% m-o-m. Over the period under review, average import prices attained the peak figure at $7,566 per ton in May 2023; however, from June 2023 to July 2023, import prices remained at a lower figure.

There were significant differences in the average prices amongst the major supplying countries. In July 2023, the country with the highest price was Romania ($50,074 per ton), while the price for Japan ($3,286 per ton) was amongst the lowest.

From July 2022 to July 2023, the most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Romania (+16.9%), while the prices for the other major suppliers experienced more modest paces of growth.

Source: IndexBox Market Intelligence Platform