US Scrap Exports Record Marginal Decline in July

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The scrap shipments by the US dropped slightly during the month of July this year, says the latest trade statistics released by the US Census Bureau and International Trade Commission. This is when compared with the previous month. On year-on-year basis, the exports stood significantly higher in July 2017.

The country’s scrap exports totaled nearly 1.26 million tons during the month, marginally lower by 2.4% when compared with the month just before that. The US scrap exports had totaled 1.29 million tons in June this year. However, the shipments were up by nearly 59% over the previous year. It must be noted that the country had exported only around 794,000 tons of scrap during July 2016.

The largest export destination of scrap from the US was Turkey. The exports to Turkey totaled 303,353 tons, accounting for almost one-fourth of the total exports by the country in July 2017. The Turkish imports of US scrap declined marginally by 1.3% when compared with the previous month. On the other hand, the imports rose sharply by nearly 36% when compared with the same month a year before. Mexico was the second largest importer of scrap from the US with imports of 178,037 tons. The other key export destinations of US scrap were Taiwan (103,361 tons), Bangladesh (96,147 tons) and Canada (78,488 tons).

The US scrap exports had totaled 6.178 million tonnes during the opening six months of the current year, significantly higher by 20.5% when compared with the corresponding period last year. The exports to Vietnam had surged higher by almost 425% during the half-yearly period. The exports to China and Canada too were up sharply. On the other hand, export volumes to Turkey and India had reported huge decline during Jan-June ’17.

Meantime, the country’s nickel scrap exports bounced back sharply in July this year. The exports surged higher by 29.1% when compared with the prior month. The US nickel scrap exports totaled around 2,535 tons in July. It must be noted that the exports had totaled only 1,963 tons in June this year.

The cumulative exports of nickel scrap during the initial seven-month period of the current year totaled 17,429 tons. Out of this, 12,662 tons were exported to Canada. That country accounted for nearly 74% share of US exports during the period. The other major importers during Jan-July’17 were India (1,176 tons) and Sweden (1,116 tons).