US Ferrous Scrap Exports Witnessed 20% Surge Through November 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The US ferrous scrap shipments to all destinations increased significantly during the initial eleven-month period in 2017. The country’s ferrous scrap exports surged higher by almost one-fifth over the corresponding period in 2016. The jump in exports was mainly on the back of increased intake by major importers including Turkey.

According to latest trade statistics released by the US Census Bureau, the total exports from the US surged higher by nearly 20% year-on-year to touch 13.78 million tonnes during Jan-Nov ’17. This is when matched with the exports of 11.5 million tonnes during the corresponding period in 2016.

RELATED: Ferrous Scrap Trade Exhibits Mixed Trend Towards End-2017

The leading importer of ferrous scrap from the US was Turkey. The deliveries to Turkey totaled 3.26 million tonnes, registering growth of over 13% from the previous year. The Turkish imports of US scrap had totaled 2.88 million tonnes during Jan-Nov ’16. Almost 24% of total scrap exported by the US was received by Turkey. The second largest importer was Mexico with 1.61 million tonnes. The deliveries to Mexico were up by almost 11% over the previous year. In third place was Taiwan with imports totaling 1.29 million tonnes from the US. The imports by Taiwan too climbed higher by nearly 6% from 2016. The other key export destinations were China (957,787 tonnes) and Canada (833,449 tonnes).

The US ferrous scrap exports to Bangladesh boomed during this period. The exports to the country almost doubled to total 584,205 tonnes in Jan-Nov ’17. Pakistan too recorded significant surge in imports from the US. The imports surged higher by around 59% to 641,491 tonnes. On the other hand, US ferrous scrap deliveries to India dropped sharply by more than 37% to total 665,737 tonnes.

As per data, the US exports of nickel scrap too increased sharply by nearly 17% in November 2017. The exports increased from 1,973 tons in October to around 2,300 tons in November. Among major export destinations, Canada alone witnessed slight decline in imports. The combined exports during the eleven months from Jan to Nov in 2017 totaled around 27.45 million tonnes.

Meantime, the domestic US H1 scrap prices averaged at $296.83 per long ton as on January 2^nd, reporting no change from the previous week.