Exports of Iron Ore by the U.S. Recorded 31% Surge

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. exports of iron ores and concentrates increased by more than 31% through August this year to total $612.11 million, says the latest trade statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau. The exports had totaled only $467.01 million during the corresponding eight-month period in 2017.

Looking at trade partners, Canada emerged as the topmost through the first eight months of the year. The exports to Canada totaled $473.93 million, accounting for more than 77% of the total U.S. exports. The exports of iron ores and concentrates to that country have surged higher significantly by approximately 32% over the previous year. The second largest export destination was Japan with $88.63 million. In third place was Mexico with imports of $42.99 million from the U.S. The other main importers during Jan-Aug ’18 were Germany (5.81 million) and Peru ($390,000).

The above five top foreign markets imported $611.75 million worth of iron ores and concentrates, accounting for 99.94% of the total U.S. exports.

On the contrary, the imports by the U.S. totaled $369.48 million, down significantly by 15.24% over the eight-month period in 2017. The leading sources of import were Brazil ($233.37 million), Sweden ($53.41 million), Canada ($44.07 million), Russia ($15.72 million) and South Africa ($8.3 million). The shipments from the above five countries totaled $354.87 million, accounting for 96.05% of all the iron ores and concentrates imports to the U.S.