U.S. Nickel Scrap Exports Tumbled by One-Fifth

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics published by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates notable decline in exports of nickel waste and scrap by the country through September this year. The imports too witnessed modest decline, when matched with the comparable nine-month period in 2018.

During Jan-Sep ‘19, the value of nickel scrap exports by the U.S. amounted to $99.74 million. This is significantly lower by 20.96% when compared with the year-ago period. The exports had totalled $126.19 million during January to September in 2018. 

The primary market for U.S. nickel scrap exports was Canada. The country accounted for more than 60% of all U.S. exports during the initial nine months of 2019. The imports by Canada registered notable decline by more than 40% over the previous year to total $60.01 million. The exports to Japan witnessed sharp jump by 52.1% to $10.95 million. In third place was the UK with imports totalling $7.18 million. The other major importers of nickel scrap from the U.S. were Australia ($6.15 million) and Germany ($3.70 million). The above five countries together received more than 88% of the total U.S. shipments of nickel waste and scrap through September this year.

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Meantime, the U.S. imports of nickel waste and scrap too witnessed modest decline by 5.97% year-on-year during the first nine months in 2019. The imports totalled $231.59 million as compared with $246.29 million during Jan-Sep ’18.

The top five sources of imports of nickel scrap by the U.S. were the UK, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Nearly 72% of all nickel waste and scrap imported by the U.S. during the initial nine months of the current year were supplied by the above five countries. The combined imports from the top five sources totalled $166.26 million out of the total $231.59 million.