Taiwan’s Feb ’16 ferrous scrap imports dropped 38%

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The latest import statistics indicate that the ferrous scrap imports by Taiwan during February this year dropped sharply over the previous year. However, the scrap imports increased modestly when compared with the previous month. The country’s scrap imports have been dropping steadily since June ’15.

The scrap imports by Taiwan during the month of February this year totaled 210,294 tons. The imports tumbled by 37.5% when compared with the scrap imports during the same month a year ago. Meantime, the scrap imports have soared higher by 10.5% over the previous month. Taiwan had imported 190,256 tons of scrap during the month of January this year.

The largest scrap exporter to Taiwan during Feb ‘16 was Japan. The scrap imports by Taiwan from Japan totaled 107,532 tons. The scrap imports from the country accounted for over 51% of the total scrap imports by Taiwan during the month. The US scrap exports to Taiwan declined significantly by 28.5% year-on-year. The second largest scrap exporter to Taiwan during the month was the US. The imports from the country totaled 67,052 tons, accounting for approximately 32% of the total scrap imports by Taiwan during the month. The scrap imports from the US dropped heavily by 25.8% year-on-year. In third place was Hong Kong with 7,809 tons. The scrap imports from Hong Kong plummeted by 62.8% over the previous year.

The country’s scrap imports during initial two months of the year totaled 400,550 tons, significantly lower by nearly 50.9% when compared with the imports of 816,579 tons during the corresponding two-month period last year. The largest suppliers of ferrous scrap during Jan-Feb ’16 to Taiwan were Japan (164,088 tons, 41.0% share), the USA (129,635 tons, 32.4% share) and Hong Kong (37,473 tons, 9.4% share of total Taiwanese imports).