U.S. Paperboard Scrap Exports Are Surging

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that exports of paper and paperboard scrap by the country recorded marginal jump by just over 2% during the initial five-month period of the current year. The exports totaled $1.29 billion from January to May this year, higher by 2.03% over the corresponding period in 2018. The U.S. exports had totaled $1.27 billion during Jan-May ’18.

The largest destination of paper and paperboard scrap exports from the U.S. was China. The Asian nation imported $445.41 million worth of the material from the U.S. This accounted for approximately 35% of all the U.S. overseas shipments. The U.S. exports to China registered decline of 13.18% over the previous year. The second largest destination of exports was India, followed by Mexico in third place. The imports by India and Mexico totaled $228.37 million and $151.40 million respectively. The other primary export markets were Indonesia ($73.12 million) and South Korea ($72.42 million).

The U.S. exports to the above five destinations totaled $970.72 million, representing more than three-fourth of all the exports by the country in the opening five months of 2019.

The country’s imports of paper and paperboard scrap declined significantly by nearly 19% through May this year to total $45.72 million. The imports had totaled $56.31 million during Jan-May in 2018. The leading sources of import were Canada ($44.01 million) and Mexico ($1.55 million). The supplies from the above two countries accounted for over 99.6% of the net imports. In third place was China, whose supplies to the U.S. registered notable decline by almost 29% year-on-year to total $80,486 by value.