Exports of Precious Metal Scrap Surged 27%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest U.S. Census Bureau data indicates that exports of precious metal scrap recorded significant surge during the initial ten months of the current year. The exports through October this year were up by 26.79% to $3.68 billion, when compared with the exports of $2.90 billion during Jan-Oct ’17.

The top three foreign markets for U.S. precious metal scrap exports were Canada, Germany and the U.K. The exports to Canada totaled $894.64 million, accounting for nearly 24% of the total U.S. exports. Germany received $861.06 million worth of precious metal scrap from the U.S. In third place was the U.K with receipts totaling $691.80 million. The other major export destinations were Italy ($511.09 million) and Japan ($297.51million).

Meantime, the U.S. imports of scrap of precious metal too increased marginally by 0.21% through October this year. The imports rose from $1.53 billion in Jan-Oct ’17 to $1.53 billion during the corresponding ten-month period this year. The imports totaled $133.38 million for the month of October 2018.

The key supplier of precious metal scrap to the U.S was Germany. The imports from Germany increased marginally by nearly 1.5% over the previous year to total $378 million during Jan-Oct ’18. The supplies from Canada totaled $321.34 million. In third place was Mexico with $138.46 million. The other major sources were the U.K ($110.63 million), Singapore ($104.28 million) and Japan ($71.50 million).