Exports of Plastic Waste and Scrap by the US Collapsed 12%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. Census Bureau data points at considerable decline in exports of plastic waste and scrap by the country during the first eleven months of 2017. On the other hand, the imports reported marginal increase during Jan-Nov ’17.

The US exports of plastic waste and scrap registered sharp decline by 12% during the period up to November in 2017. The exports totaled $589.31 million, as compared with the total exports of $673.18 million recorded during the corresponding eleven-month period in 2016. The exports had registered 10% yearly decline in 2016 to total $733.76.

The single largest destination of plastic waste and scrap exports from the US was China. The country accounted for nearly 32% share of all exports of plastic waste and scrap by the US during Jan-Nov ’17. The Chinese imports from the US dropped sharply by over 27% to total $188.4 million. The second largest importer was Hong Kong. The exports to that country too declined sharply by nearly 36% year-on-year to $124.7 million. In third place was Canada with a total market share of around 11%. The exports to Canada dropped by 9.45% to $63.2 million during this period. The other key importing countries were India ($55.1 million) and Vietnam ($36.8 million).

The combined exports to the above five countries totaled $468.12 million, representing nearly 79%  of all exports of plastic waste and scrap by the US during Jan-Nov ‘17.

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Meantime, US imports of plastic waste and scrap recorded marginal increase over the previous year. The imports during the opening eleven months of 2017 totaled $201.47 million as compared with $198.99 million during the corresponding eleven-month period in 2016. It must be noted that the US had imported $212.57 million worth of plastic waste and scrap during the entire year 2016.

The leading exporter was Mexico, accounting for 39% share of all US imports. The imports from Mexico saw decline of nearly 6% when matched with the previous year to total $78.3 million during Jan-Nov ’17.  The exports from Canada totaled $48.6 million, representing over 24% of total US imports. In third place was China with exports of $9.7 million. The other key suppliers were Honduras ($9.4 million), Ecuador ($6.4 million) and the Dominican Republic ($4.6 million).