Scrap Metal Trade Declined Substantially in Asian Countries

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The scrap trade statistics published by major Asian countries point to declining trend in scrap trade across the region during the month of October this year.

Vietnam imported around 450,000 tons of scrap in Oct ’19. This is significantly lower by 36% over the previous month. When matched with the same month a year before, the scrap import volumes by the country posted 16% decline.

The primary scrap supplier to Vietnam was Japan. The imports from that country totalled around 240,000 tons, accounting for more than 53% of the total Vietnamese scrap imports. The Japanese suppliers surged higher by 12% year-on-year. In second place was Australia with supplies totalling around 59,000 tons. The Vietnamese scrap imports from the U.S. dropped sharply by nearly 90% over the month to total only around 45,000 in October 2019, said government statistics said.

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The data published by Taiwanese Customs suggest 22% month-on-month decline in imports of scrap by the country. The imports totalled around 198,600 tons, out of which 95,500 tons were supplied by the U.S. The other key import sources were Japan (28,200 tons), Canada (18,000 tons) and Australia (10,900 tons).