U.S. Nickel Scrap Exports Plummeted 10%

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The most recent statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates significant drop in exports of nickel waste and scrap by the country during the initial two months of the current year. The imports too were down substantially, when compared with the corresponding two-month period in 2018.

Through February 2019, the U.S. nickel scrap exports totaled $20.36 million. This is significantly lower by 10.27% when compared with the year-ago period. The exports had totaled $22.69 million during Jan-Feb ‘19. 

The key destination market for U.S. nickel scrap exports was Canada. The country received more than 67% of all U.S. exports during the two-month period. The imports by Canada dropped significantly by almost 32% over the previous year to total $13.67 million. The exports to Australia skyrocketed by 274% to $1.59 million. In third place was Japan with imports totaling $1.28 million. The other major importers of nickel scrap from the U.S. were the U.K. ($1.13 million) and Sweden ($827,104).

Meantime, the U.S. imports of nickel waste and scrap too witnessed notable decline by over 11% year-on-year during the first two months of 2019. The imports totaled $38.67 million as compared with $43.6 million during the previous year.

The top five sources of imports of nickel scrap by the U.S. were the UK, Canada, Mexico, Japan and Italy. More than 72% of all nickel waste and scrap imported by the U.S. during Jan-Feb ’19 were sourced from these five markets. The combined imports from the above countries totaled $27.98 million.