U.S. Plastic Scrap Exports Till May Take a Huge Hit

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest U.S. Census Bureau data suggests substantial decline in exports of scrap plastic by the country during the first five-month period in 2020, compared with the prior year. Also, the imports of the material recorded modest decline during Jan-May ’20.

The U.S. exports of plastic waste and scrap have declined by more than 34% year-on-year through May this year. The Jan-May ’20 exports were valued at $83.74 million, as compared with $127.32 million during the corresponding five-month period in 2019.

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The primary market destination of exports was Canada. The exports to that country recorded decline by nearly 7% over the previous year to total $22.35 million. Canada accounted for over 77% of all shipments of scrap plastic by the U.S during the five-month period. The second largest importer was Malaysia, whose imports totalled $9.76 million. In third place was Hong Kong with $7.95 million worth of imports from the U.S. The other key foreign markets were Mexico ($6.38 million) and Vietnam ($4.33 million). The above countries together accounted for more than 58% of the total shipments of plastic scrap by the U.S. through May this year.

The U.S. imports of plastic waste, scrap declined modestly by nearly 10% in January to May this year to $88.31 million. The top five sources of import were Mexico ($30.95 million), Canada ($17.59 million), Japan ($4.87 million), Thailand ($4.49 million) and Honduras ($4.47 million).