2018 U.S. Fluid Power Product Imports Analysis

| April 17, 2019
Stats Fact of the Week

Stats Fact of the Week: Week of April 15, 2019

NFPA recently released the 2018 U.S. Foreign Trade Data for Fluid Power Products, an annual report containing summarized foreign trade data with a focus on fluid power products that is collected by the United States International Trade Commission. It provides U.S. fluid power foreign trade data that is broken down by country and product and also includes a trade summary page for those who need a snapshot of our industry’s foreign trade activity.

U.S. fluid power product imports reached a record high of 9.1 billion dollars in 2018, despite unpredictable trade policies, tariffs, and a large increase in U.S. production. Because 2018 U.S. imports faced many barriers, let’s take a deeper dive into our industry’s foreign trade landscape and examine major import trade partners and leading U.S. fluid power product imports.

Growth of U.S. Fluid Power Imports

Consistent growth over the last ten years, outside of a small dip in 2015 and 2016, sums up U.S. fluid power import activity over the last 10 years. Import activity underwent an impressive growth trend in 2018 when compared to 2017, experiencing a 16.9% increase.

U.S. Imports from Major Trade Partners

Our top five trading partners remained the same when compared to 2017 and represent nearly 66% of the industry’s imports, while our top ten trading partners represent 86%. The remaining 14% of our imports is divided among 127 other countries.

U.S. Imports from Fluid Power Products

Here again, not much has changed when it comes to our top U.S. imports by fluid power product type when compared to last year. The top five fluid power products represent 64% of all U.S. fluid power product imports, while the top ten represents 93%.

All the data used to generate the graphs and information above can be found in NFPA’s 2018 Foreign Trade Report, an exclusive benefit of NFPA membership. This report is now available on the NFPA website.

Questions? Contact Eric Armstrong at earmstrong@nfpa.com or (414) 778-3372. Eric Armstrong also offers a Market Information Resource Walk-Through Webinar for individuals interested in learning more about the valuable resources available with NFPA membership.