US Exports of Plastic Waste and Scrap Faced Sharp Decline

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The recent trade statistics published by the US Census Bureau suggests modest decline in the country’s export of Plastic Waste and Scrap during the first ten months of 2017. The data also indicates that plastic waste and scrap imports held mostly unchanged during the above-mentioned period.

In accordance with the data, the exports of plastic waste and scrap witnessed 11% decline through October this year. The exports during this period totaled $546.22 million. The exports had totaled $613.86 million during Jan-Oct ’16. Going by the current rate, the full year exports are likely to report lower levels when compared with the previous year. It must be noted that US plastic waste and scrap exports were valued at $733.76 million during 2016.

The largest importer of plastic waste and scrap from the US was China. The country accounted for almost one-third of all exports of plastic waste and scrap by the US during Jan-Oct ’17. The Chinese imports from the US dropped sharply by over 22% to total $183.3 million. The second largest foreign market was Hong Kong. The exports to that country amounted to $118.3 million, down considerably by nearly 32% over the previous year. In third place was Canada with a total market share of 10.55%. The exports to Canada too declined by 11% to $57.63 million during this period. The other key importing countries were India ($51.32 million) and Vietnam ($29.26 million).

The cumulative imports by the above five countries totaled $439.88 million, accounting for 81% of all exports of plastic waste and scrap by the US during Jan-Oct ‘17.

Los Angeles Customs District accounted for over 31% of all shipments, followed by New York City, Charleston, Houston and Norfolk. These five Customs Districts shipped nearly 63% of all shipments by the US during the ten-month period.

Meantime, US imports of plastic waste and scrap remained more or less unchanged over the previous year. The imports during the opening ten months of 2017 totaled $181.11 million as compared with $181.78 million during the corresponding ten-month period in 2016. It must be noted that the US had imported $212.57 million worth of plastic waste and scrap during the previous full-year period.

The leading exporter was Mexico, accounting for 39% share of all US imports. The imports from Mexico have dropped by nearly 7% over the previous year to total $70.6 million during Jan-Oct ’17. The other primary exporting countries were Canada ($44.22 million), China ($8.59 million), Honduras ($8.44 million) and Ecuador ($5.94 million). The districts to ship largest volume were Laredo, Detroit, Charleston, Miami and Buffalo. Nearly 61% of all plastic waste and scrap shipped out of the US were from these top five Customs Districts.