US Pig Iron Exports Skyrocketed During Jan-Aug ‘17

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The exports of Pig Iron by the US more than tripled during the initial eight-month period of the current year, says the most recent trade statistics published by the US Census Bureau. The exports during this period amounted to $17.38 million, higher by more than three times when matched with the imports of $5.301 million during the corresponding period last year. The imports have already surpassed the imports of $10.48 million during the entire year 2016.

The top three destinations of US pig iron exports were Canada, Mexico and India. The largest importer was Canada with exports amounting to $14.9 million. The imports by Canada constituted nearly 86% of total US pig iron exports. Also, Canadian imports of US pig iron more than doubled over the previous year. The exports to Mexico too were up sharply by more than 100% to $1.6 million. The imports by Mexico accounted for 9.37% of total US exports. In third place was India with imports valued at $296,774. The country’s pig iron imports from the US remained almost unchanged over the previous year. India accounted for 1.71% of total US exports. The other key destinations of US exports were Pakistan ($90,118), the UK ($66,852) and the UAE ($62,878). The top five importers accounted for 98% of the total shipments by the US during the initial eight-month period of the year.

Pembina, N.D. reported largest shipment volume of pig iron among various US customs districts. The district accounted for nearly 48% of all shipments by the US. Pembina, N.D. was closely followed by Detroit and Laredo with market shares of 37.85% and 9.37% respectively. The other customs districts to feature in top-five list were San Francisco and New York City. These five U.S. customs districts accounted for 96% of all pig iron exports from the country through August this year.

Meantime, imports of Pig Iron have registered considerable increase during the first eight months of 2017. The exports surged higher from $683.8 million in Jan-Aug ’16 to $1.22 billion through the first eight months of 2017. It must be noted that the imports were valued at $947.66 million during the entire year 2016.

The top supplier of pig iron to the US was Russia. The US imports from Russia totaled $685 million, accounting for approximately 56% of total imports by the US. The imports from Ukraine and Brazil totaled $267 million and $204 million respectively. South Africa ($31.4 million) and India ($25.3 million) were the other leading exporters of Pig Iron into the US. The total shipments by the above five countries accounted for nearly 99% of the total imports by the US during the eight-month period from January to August this year.

New Orleans, Mobile, Charleston, Chicago and Wilmington emerged as the top five Customs districts, by value of U.S. pig iron imports. The cumulative pig iron imports by the top five Customs districts amounted to $1.21 billion out of the total of $1.22 billion, accounting for 99% import market share.