U.S. Copper Scrap Exports Surged 19%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The U.S. exports of copper waste and scrap reported notable surge during the initial ten months of 2018, says the latest trade statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau. Also, imports witnessed marginal increase during this period.

The U.S. copper scrap exports totaled $2.66 billion, higher by 18.69% when compared with the exports of $2.24 billion through the first ten months of 2017. The top trade partner during Jan-Oct ’18 was China. The exports to China totaled $1.03 billion, accounting for 39% of the total exports. In second place was Canada, which received $293.71 million worth of copper scrap from the U.S. The other primary export destinations were South Korea ($244.14 million), Japan ($155.33 million) and Malaysia ($148.26 million).

The exports to the above top five foreign markets totaled $1.87 billion, representing over 70% of the total U.S exports.

The U.S. imports of copper waste and scrap have increased marginally by 4.5% over the previous year to total $657.66 million through October this year. It must be noted that the country’s copper scrap imports had totaled only $629.36 million during the corresponding ten-month period in 2017.

The top sources of import were Canada ($425.08 million), Mexico ($164.46 million), Venezuela ($15.43 million), Panama ($7.99 million) and Colombia ($5.15 million). The combined imports from the above countries totaled $618.11 million, accounting for nearly 94% of the total U.S. imports.