Strong Rebound Lifts U.S. Ferrous Scrap Exports to 13.8 Mt

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The 2018 Recycling Industry Yearbook published by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) states that U.S. exports of ferrous scrap excluding stainless and alloy steel totaled 13.8 million metric tons during the previous year. The exports were roughly valued at $4.1 billion. The ferrous scrap export volumes rebounded significantly over the year before.

Meantime, non-ferrous metal scrap accounted for more than 50% of the scrap recycling industry earnings in the U.S. The country processed more than 8.5 million metric tons of non-ferrous scrap valued at nearly $30 billion in 2017.

The aluminum metal recovered from purchased new and old scrap in the U.S. totaled around 3.7 million metric tons. Out of this, around 57% came from new scrap, whereas the remaining 43% came from old scrap. The aluminum recovered scrap accounted for more than 55% of the total apparent aluminum consumption by the country. Official trade data suggests that the country exported 830,624 metric tons of aluminum scrap to China, which represents 55% of the total U.S. exports during the year.

According to the Yearbook, copper scrap usage by the country represented 34% of total U.S. apparent consumption of refined copper. The U.S copper and copper alloy scrap exports to mainland China and Hong Kong were valued at $1.8 billion. The other key export markets included Canada ($284 million), Germany ($143 million), South Korea ($130 million) and Japan ($90 million).