Exports of Scrap Iron and Steel by the US Surged 33% in Jan-Aug '17

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): In accordance with the latest monthly statistics published by the US Census Bureau, the country’s exports of scrap iron and steel has surged higher significantly during the opening eight months of the year. The exports totaled $2.99 million during Jan-Aug ‘17, registering an increase of nearly 33% upon comparison with the exports of $2.25 million during the corresponding eight-month period last year. It must be noted that the exports had amounted to $3.6 during the entire year 2016.

China, Turkey, Taiwan, Mexico and India were the leading five markets for exported scrap iron and steel from the US. These exports to the above mentioned top five markets totaled $1.90 billion and accounted for 64% of all scrap iron and steel shipments from the US.

The largest importer was China with imports totaling $567.4 million, accounting for 18.97% of the total US shipments. The exports to China skyrocketed by nearly 55% over the previous year. The Turkish imports totaled $515.4 million, rising sharply by nearly 17% from the year before. In third place was Taiwan with imports from the US amounting to $321 million. The country registered nearly 34% year-on-year jump in imports. The exports to Mexico and India totaled $317 million and $178.3 million respectively.

Among Customs districts, Los Angeles accounted for 23.05% of all shipments, followed by New York City and San Francisco with market shares of 16.3% and 9.33% respectively. The other ports which became part of top-five ports by shipment volume were Boston and Seattle. These five Customs districts accounted for 60% of exports of the US during Jan-August ’17.

Meantime, imports of scrap steel and iron too have registered significant increase during the first eight months of 2017. The imports were up sharply by 49% from $673.37 million in Jan-Aug ’16 to almost $1 billion through the first eight months of 2017. It must be noted that the imports were valued at $948.67 million during the full year 2016.

The top exporter of scrap iron and steel to the US was Canada. The imports from Canada totaled $642.9 million, accounting for approximately 64.11% of total imports. The imports from the UK and Mexico totaled $122 million and $109 million respectively. Sweden ($53.5 million) and the Netherlands ($41.7 million) were the other leading exporters of scrap iron and steel to the US. The exports by the above five countries accounted for nearly 97% of the total imports by the US during the initial eight-month period of 2017.

Detroit, Buffalo, New Orleans, Seattle and Mobile emerged as the top five Customs districts, by value of imports. The cumulative imports by the top five Customs districts amounted to $782.6 million.