Precious Metal Scrap Exports Soared 4%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. exports of scrap of precious metals totaled $2.65 billion in the opening seven months of the current year. This is modestly higher by 4.32% when compared with the exports of $2.54 billion during the corresponding seven-month period in 2018. The category was ranked in 72nd position, as per the latest trade data published by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The top trade partner during the year was Canada. The exports to Canada totaled $863.53 million, accounting for nearly one-third of all U.S. Shipments in Jan-July '19. The shipments to Canada increased significantly by approximately 53%, upon comparison with the year before that. The second top export destination was the UK, which received $442.56 million of scrap of precious metals from the U.S. The exports to the UK were up by 17.5% over the year and represented nearly 17% market share. In third place was Italy, which accounted for 15.62% of the total U.S. exports. The exports to the country totaled $413.84 million. The other key importers during the year were Germany ($348.08 million) and Japan ($302.21 million).

The above top five export destinations together received nearly 91% of the total U.S. shipments of precious metals scrap.

Also, the imports of precious metals scrap have increased by 17.10% year-on-year in Jan-July '19 to $1.28 billion from $1.09 billion. The leading sources were Germany ($321.1 million), Canada ($208.56 million), the U.K. ($165.54 million), Mexico ($85.24 million), and Japan ($78.72 million). These top five foreign markets accounted for more than 67% of all the imports of precious metal scrap by the U.S. during January to July in 2019.