That dollar amount results from an average 43.8% increase for all bronze exporters over the 5-year period starting in 2018 when bronze exports were worth a total $446.2 million.
Year over year, the value of globally exported bronze rose by an average 11.2% compared to $577 million for 2021.
Bronze is an alloy made by combining copper with a smaller amount of tin, plus even smaller quantities of such elements as aluminum, zinc, lead or silver may be mixed in depending on demands of the final usage.
The most popular industrial uses for bronze are as an anti-corrosion additive or for coating iron or steel, a process called galvanization. The metallic brown alloy is used in fittings because it is generally free from corrosion and does not oxidize after exposure with polluted water or chemically treated solutions.
Less brittle than tin or iron but more durable than copper, bronze is also a key ingredient for manufacturing ships, boats, valves and other machine components, coins and sculptures.
Key Geographic Insights about Bronze Exports
By value, the world’s 5 most lucrative bronze exporters are Spain, Germany, Japan, Italy and South Korea. Collectively, those 5 major suppliers generated almost two-thirds (64.4%) of the overall dollar spend on exported bronze ores or concentrates during 2022.
Among continents, bronze suppliers located in Europe furnished the highest dollar worth of the brownish-gold metallic alloy during 2022 with shipments valued at $372.1 million or 58% of the worldwide total. In second place were bronze exporters in Asia at 26.5%, trailed by suppliers in North America at 9.1%, then another 4.8% for providers in Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean.
Smaller percentages came from providers in Africa (1.2%) and Oceania’s (0.4%) New Zealand and Australia only.
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix is 740322 for unwrought bronze also called copper-tin base alloys.
Top Bronze Exports by Country
Below are the 25 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of bronze during 2022.
- Spain: US$131.2 million (20.4% of total bronze exports)
- Germany: $88.7 million (13.8%)
- Japan: $82.2 million (12.8%)
- Italy: $76.3 million (11.9%)
- South Korea: $34.6 million (5.4%)
- Mexico: $28.3 million (4.4%)
- United States: $25.9 million (4%)
- Portugal: $24.6 million (3.8%)
- India: $22.9 million (3.6%)
- Brazil: $17.5 million (2.7%)
- Indonesia: $12.3 million (1.9%)
- Netherlands: $10.7 million (1.7%)
- France: $10.4 million (1.6%)
- Taiwan: $9.8 million (1.5%)
- United Kingdom: $6.8 million (1.1%)
- Costa Rica: $6.3 million (1%)
- Belgium: $4.8 million (0.8%)
- Canada: $4.4 million (0.7%)
- Ecuador: $4.2 million (0.7%)
- New Zealand: $2.8 million (0.4%)
- Sweden: $2.61 million (0.4%)
- Türkiye: $2.59 million (0.4%)
- Greece: $2.5 million (0.4%)
- South Africa: $2.3 million (0.4%)
- Algeria: $2.1 million (0.3%)
By value, the listed 25 countries shipped 96.1% of globally exported bronze in 2022.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of bronze since 2021 were: Portugal (up 2,809%), South Africa (up 151.7%), Canada (up 125.1%) and Belgium (up 115.2%).
Five major suppliers posted declines in their international sales of bronze, namely: Greece (down -69.1% from 2021), Türkiye (down -51.5%), France (down -16.6%), Mexico (down -14%) and the United States of America (down -11.3%).
Countries Generating Greatest Surpluses from Global Bronze Trade
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for bronze during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported bronze and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Spain: US$127.3 million (net export surplus up 30.9% since 2021)
- Japan: $80.7 million (up 1%)
- Italy: $39.9 million (down -0.9%)
- South Korea: $34.1 million (up 15%)
- Germany: $21.7 million (up 9.6%)
- India: $21.1 million (up 12.6%)
- Mexico: $20.8 million (down -16%)
- Portugal: $18.6 million (reversing a -$6.1 million deficit)
- United States: $16.4 million (down -31.2%)
- Brazil: $15.7 million (up 22.7%)
- Costa Rica: $6.2 million (up 4.4%)
- Taiwan: $4.5 million (reversing a -$16,000 deficit)
- Ecuador: $3.7 million (up 13.3%)
- New Zealand: $2.7 million (up 34.4%)
- Pakistan: $2.1 million (down -17.3%)
World-leading Spain earned the highest surplus in the international trade of bronze. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms the strong Peruvian competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Countries Incurring Worst Deficits from Global Bronze Trade
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for bronze during 2022. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported bronze purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- China: -US$105.3 million (net export deficit down -2.8% since 2021)
- Thailand: -$30.3 million (down -1.2%)
- Switzerland: -$22.5 million (up 15.5%)
- France: -$20.8 million (up 86.4%)
- Poland: -$15.1 million (up 72.8%)
- Sweden: -$9.8 million (up 25.8%)
- Malaysia: -$9.6 million (up 1.4%)
- Belgium: -$8.2 million (up 21.6%)
- Denmark: -$7.8 million (down -25.8%)
- United Kingdom: -$7.3 million (up 728.1%)
- Australia: -$4.5 million (down -43.5%)
- Canada: -$4.3 million (down -55.6%)
- Egypt: -$3.9 million (reversing a $275,000 surplus)
- Netherlands: -$3.5 million (down -79.8%)
- Philippines: -$2.8 million (2021 data unavailable)
Mainland China recorded the highest deficit in the international trade of bronze. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights China’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for bronze-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful Chinese demand.
Major Exporters by Greatest Volume of Bronze Shipments by Weight
The following ranking reveals which counties exported the biggest volumes of bronze during 2022 in terms of shipment tonnage.
By weight, the 15 major suppliers below generated 86% of the total 77,168 tons of globally exported bronze in 2022.
- Spain: 12,226 tons of bronze (15.8% of the world’s total)
- Japan: 9,887 tons (12.8%)
- Germany: 8,891 tons (11.5%)
- Italy: 7,192 tons (9.3%)
- United States of America: 4,707 tons (6.1%)
- Mexico: 4,337 tons (5.6%)
- South Korea: 3,662 tons (4.7%)
- India: 2,907 tons (3.8%)
- Angola: 2,420 tons (3.1%)
- Brazil: 2,327 tons (3%)
- Portugal: 2,080 tons (2.7%)
- Netherlands: 1,494 tons (1.9%)
- Indonesia: 1,474 tons (1.9%)
- Madagascar: 1,430 tons (1.9%)
- Taiwan: 1,322 tons (1.7%)
The world’s foremost seller of exported bronze, the European nation Spain is the leading bronze exporter in terms of both shipment volume and in dollar value.
Fastest growing among the top bronze shippers by weight were Angola (up 4,300% from 2021), Portugal (up 2,291%), Netherlands (up 39.9%), then Taiwan (up 28%).
Recording double-digit declines year over year were Mexico (down -21.9% from 2021), United States of America (down -20.5%) and Germany (down -10.9%).
Average Unit Prices for Bronze Exports
The world average unit price for exported bronze was $8,315 per ton, up by 10.4% compared to $7,535 per ton for 2021.
Below are the bronze exporters averaging the lowest average unit prices per ton in 2022.
- Togo: US$88 per ton (up 4.8% from 2021)
- Madagascar: $410 per ton (down -0.5%)
- Ivory Coast: $475 per ton (down -11%)
- Angola: $732 per ton (down -35%)
- Guatemala: $2,061 per ton (down -15.2%)
- Czech Republic: $3,933 per ton (down -20.1%)
- Thailand: $4,655 per ton (down -72.6%)
- Iran: $4,750 per ton (up 5.3%)
- Bosnia/Herzegovina: $5,000 per ton (2021 data unavailable)
- Ecuador: $5,242 per ton (up 2.1%)
- Nicaragua: $5,257 per ton (up 2.4%)
- Pakistan: $5,413 per ton (up 8.4%)
- United States of America: $5,495 per ton (up 11.6%)
- Costa Rica: $5,565 per ton (down -20%)
- Paraguay: $6,000 per ton (2021 data unavailable)
There were four decliners in the per-ton price for exported bronze among the above low-cost suppliers: Philippines (down -80.1%), Madagascar (down -2.8%), United States of America (also down -2.8%), and Congo (down -1.7%).
The following 15 bronze exporters charged the highest average unit prices per ton in 2022.
- Norway: US$127,857 per ton (down -13.1% from 2021)
- Croatia: $39,000 per ton (up 66%)
- Switzerland: $25,750 per ton (down -27.7%)
- Serbia: $17,000 per ton (up 46.9%)
- Peru: $15,200 per ton (up 44.8%)
- Ireland: $14,250 per ton (down -1.7%)
- Malaysia: $11,989 per ton (up 22.8%)
- Portugal: $11,816 per ton (up 21.7%)
- Türkiye: $11,229 per ton (up 23.1%)
- Egypt: $11,063 per ton (up 19.3%)
- Spain: $10,728 per ton (up 8.6%)
- Italy: $10,615 per ton (up 14.9%)
- Sweden: $10,512 per ton (up 22.8%)
- Hong Kong: $10,455 per ton (up 6.4%)
- Greece: $10,135 per ton (up 62.3%)
The greatest upticks in unit prices for imported bronze were imposed by sellers in: Croatia (up 66% from 2021), Greece (up 62.3%), Serbia (up 46.9%), Peru (up 44.8%) then Türkiye (up 23.1%).
Bronze Sales Companies
Below are 10 sample bronze producers, suppliers or brokers that represent established players engaged in the international trade of bronze. Their home country, either India or the United States of America, for each company’s headquarters is shown within parenthesis.
- Al-Arham Engineering Company (India)
- Alloyed Sustainables (India)
- Amardeep Steel Centre (India)
- AVI International (India)
- Commercial Metal Exchange (United States)
- Emcor Engineering (India)
- Metalmen Sales Inc (United States)
- Multi Metal Corporation (India)
- National Bronze Manufacturing (United States)
- United Engineering Corporation (India)
See also Top Sculptures Exporters by Country, Copper Ore Exports by Country Plus Average Prices, Iron Ore Exports by Country and Top Tin Exporters
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on October 18, 2023
Copper, Brass & Bronze, Bronze listing. Accessed on October 18, 2023
Enggpro, List of Bronze Manufacturers and Suppliers Companies. Accessed on October 18, 2023
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on October 18, 2023
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on October 18, 2023
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on October 18, 2023
Wikipedia, Bronze. Accessed on October 18, 2023