Malaysia scrap imports decline during Jan-Mar 2015

By Paul Ploumis 26 Jun 2015 Last updated at 06:29:04 GMT

BEIJING (Scrap Monster): The recently released imports statistics indicate that Malaysia’s scrap imports declined sharply year-on-year during the initial three-month period of the current year.

The country’s scrap imports during January to March this year totaled 199,000 tons. The imports during this period have witnessed sharp decline of 12.7% over the imports during the same month a year ago. The country’s scrap imports had totaled 228,000 tons during January to March in 2014. The scrap imports averaged 66,000 tons during the first quarter of the year. The annualized scrap imports by the country are estimated to touch 800,000 during the entire year 2015.

The largest supplier of ferrous scrap to Malaysia during the initial three-month period of the year was Australia. The scrap imports from Australia totaled 73,000 tons, accounting for 36.5% of the total ferrous scrap imports by Malaysia during the period. The imports from Australia jumped higher by 74.4% in comparison with those during the same period in 2014.

The second largest source of scrap imports by Malaysia during Jan-Mar ’15 was Singapore. The scrap imports from Singapore totaled 59,000 tons, constituting nearly 30% of Malaysia’s scrap imports during this period. The imports from Singapore were up by nearly 69% over the previous year. In third place was the USA with 34,000 tons, accounting for 17.3% share. The Malaysian scrap imports from the USA dropped significantly by nearly 56% when compared with a year ago.

The top three nations together accounted for 84% of the Malaysian scrap imports during Jan-Mar ’15.