India's ferrous scrap imports crash to lowest levels in 2015

NEW DELHI (Scrap Monster): The scrap imports by India during the month of August this year dropped significantly when compared with the previous year. The imports were down when matched with the previous month. However, cumulative imports during the initial eight-month period were up year-on-year.

According to trade data, India’s scrap imports totaled 432,317 tons in Aug ‘15. This is down considerably by 24.2% when compared with the imports during the same month a year before. The country’s scrap imports had totaled 570,340 tons during August last year. The imports during Aug ’15 plunged by over 26% when compared with the imports of 585,833 tons during July this year.

During Aug ‘15, the US was the main exporter of scrap to India. The scrap imports from the US totaled 65,439 tons, accounting for nearly 15% of the total imports by India during the month. The scrap imports from the US during August this year declined sharply by over 28% when compared with the imports of 90,724 tons during the previous month.

The second largest source of scrap imports by India was the UAE. The scrap imports from the UAE during the month totaled 47,948 tons, down by nearly 37% when compared with the imports of 75,778 tons during the previous month. The scrap imports from the UAE constituted nearly 11% of the total Indian imports during Aug ‘15.

South Africa was the third largest ferrous scrap exporter to India during the month. The scrap imports from the country dropped significantly by 32% during the month. South Africa exported 44,978 tons of scrap into India during Aug ‘15.

The cumulative scrap imports by the country during the initial eight-month period of the year totaled 4.187 million tons, significantly higher by over 18% when compared with the imports of 3.538 million tons during the corresponding period last year. The largest exporters of ferrous scrap to the country during Jan-Aug ’15 were the UAE (587,470 tons), the UK (550,465 tons) and the USA (537,969 tons).

The annual scrap imports by the country during entire 2015 are projected at around 6.30 million tons.