U.S. Exports of Precious Metal Scrap Collapsed 11%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest U.S. Census Bureau data suggests 11% decline in the country’s exports of precious metal scrap during the initial two months of the current year. The exports were down by 10.67% from $792.32 million in Jan-Feb ’18 to $707.78 million during the corresponding two-month period this year. The U.S exports of scrap of precious metal had totaled around $4.3 billion during the last full year.

Canada emerged as the top trade partner through Feb 19, receiving $239.17 million of precious metal scrap exported by the U.S. This accounted for more than 30% of the total U.S. exports during this period. The Canadian imports from the U.S. surged higher by 76% over the previous year. The other leading export destinations were the U.K. ($119.05 million), Germany ($102.58 million), Italy ($100.93 million) and Japan ($66.14 million).

The U.S. shipments to the above top five foreign markets totaled $627.87 million, accounting for nearly 89% of the total exports.

Meantime, the U.S. imports of precious metal scrap too witnessed a decline of 4.37% over the previous year from $281.67 million to $269.37 million.

The primary source of import was Germany. The U.S. imports from that country totaled $64.8 million, marginally down by nearly 4% from the previous year. Germany accounted for more than 24% of all U.S. imports. The other key suppliers were Canada ($50.66 million), the U.K. ($43.08 million), Mexico ($20.36 million) and Japan ($18.09 million). Over 73% of all the scrap of precious metal imports to the U.S. was shipped from these five countries.