US scrap exports hit 18-month high during May this year

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

July 18, 2016 05:04:49 AM

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The trade statistics released by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) indicates that the country’s scrap exports climbed higher during the month of May this year. The US steel scrap exports during the month totaled 1.317 million tons. This is significantly higher by 35.8% when compared with the exports during the prior month. The US scrap exports had totaled 969,409 tons during April this year. The May ’16 scrap exports were up by 6.3% over the previous year. The US scrap exports rose for the first time in three months during the month. Also, the May ’16 scrap exports by the country touched the highest level in almost 18 months.

The largest export destination of US scrap during May this year was Turkey. The US steel scrap exports to Turkey totaled 519,000 tons, accounting for nearly 40% of the total scrap exports by the US during the month. The scrap exports to Turkey increased sharply by 56.7% year-on-year. The exports had totaled 331,000 tons in May 2015.

The cumulative steel scrap exports during the initial five-month period of 2016 totaled 4.867 million tons, down by 12.3% when compared with the corresponding period last year. The US steel scrap exports had totaled 5.50 tons during January to May in 2015. The monthly exports averaged at 973,000 tons during the first five months of 2016. Also, going by the current rate, the country’s steel exports are estimated to touch 11.68 million tons during the entire year 2016.

Exports-April ’16

The country’s steel scrap exports totaled 969,409 tons during April this year. The exports dropped marginally by 2.6% when matched with the previous month. Year-on-year, the exports have recorded sharp decline of 16.9%. The largest export destination of US scrap during the month was Turkey. The exports to Turkey totaled 261,488 tons, accounting for nearly 27% share of US exports during the month. The other key importers of US scrap were South Korea (125,816 tons), India (121,774 tons), Taiwan (97,979 tons) and Mexico (80,632 tons).

Exports-Mar ’16

In March ’16, the US exported 995,288 tons of scrap. The exports dropped by 3.6% over the previous month and by 19.1% over the previous year. The total value of scrap exports amounted to $2.528 billion during the month, significantly down by 34% over the previous year.

The largest importer of US scrap during the month was Turkey. The imports of US scrap by the country dropped by 5.1% year-on-year to 247,891 tons. In second place was India with 150,381 tons, followed by Mexico (120,087 tons), Korea (107,750 tons) and Taiwan (105,007 tons).

Exports-Feb ’16

The steel scrap exports totaled 1.033 million tons during the month.

The exports during Feb ’16 were up significantly by 86.9% when matched with the exports during the previous month. The exports increased marginally by over 4.8% when compared with 983,000 tons exported during February last year.

The largest export destination of US scrap was Turkey. The US scrap exports to Turkey totaled 262,057 tons during the month. The second largest importer of US scrap was India. The scrap exports to India jumped significantly higher by 352% over the previous year to total 146,091 tons. The other key export destinations were Canada (97,030 tons, up 99% year-on-year), Taiwan (92,720 tons, down 26.7%) and South Korea (89,533 tons, up 344%).