US Ferrous scrap shipments during Jan-July in 2016 declined by 15%

By Paul Ploumis (ScrapMonster Author)

September 21, 2016 08:02:29 AM

SPOKANE (Scrap Monster): The latest trade statistics published by the US Department of Commerce (DOC) suggests sharp fall in ferrous scrap shipments out of the country. The exports across the initial seven-month period of the year from too have declined considerably. The shipments during Jan-July ’16 were down by nearly 15% when matched with the year before.

The USA shipped 870,772 tonnes of ferrous scrap out of the country during the month of July this year. The export volumes declined by nearly 3.3% when compared with the previous year, despite recovery in exports to Turkey-a leading destination of US exports. The US ferrous scrap exports had totaled 900,500 tonnes during July 2015. The value of monthly exports declined sharply by over 19% year-on-year to $256.4 million.

The largest importer of US ferrous scrap during the month was Turkey. Turkish scrap imports from the country totaled 217,154 tonnes, accounting for almost one-fourth of the total shipments out of the US. Turkish buyers reported increased purchases during the month as compared with 88,082 tonnes of US scrap purchased in June ’16. The second largest destination of US scrap exports was Mexico. The Mexican imports totaled 150,967 tonnes, dropping significantly from the previous month imports of 222,579 tonnes. In third place was Taiwan with total imports of 139,715 tonnes during the month.

The cumulative shipments during the initial seven-month period of the year totaled 6.68 million tonnes. Turkish buyers accounted for 1.702 million tonnes of US ferrous scrap shipments. The Turkish purchases declined heavily by nearly 22% when matched with the corresponding seven-month period in 2015. The US steel scrap exports to Taiwan dropped by 43% to 738,538 tonnes, whereas the shipments to South Korea fell by over 21% to 494,003 tonnes during Jan-July ’16. The fall in shipments to these countries were mainly offset by increased shipments to India, Mexico and Canada. The shipments to India rose by nearly 34% year-on-year to 695,295 tonnes, whereas those to Mexico were up by 28% to 773,328 tonnes. The deliveries to Canada inched higher by 2.8% over the previous year to total 439,887 tonnes during the seven-month period. The US ferrous scrap exports to China tumbled by over 28% to 328,653 tonnes upon comparison with Jan-July ’15.

Exports-June ’16

The US exported 1.034 million tons of scrap. When compared with the prior month, the exports were down by 21.5%. The June ’16 scrap exports were down by 12.1% over the previous year. The value of exports witnessed over 18% year-on-year decline to total $3.328 billion. The largest buyer of US scrap during the month was Mexico. The imports by Mexico totaled 222,579 tonnes. The other key destinations of US exports were Kuwait (133,122 tonnes), Taiwan (90,643 tons), Peru (89,277 tons) and Turkey (88,028 tons).

Exports-May ’16

In May ’16, the US exported 1.317 million tons of scrap. The exports surged higher by nearly 36% over the previous month and by 6.3% over the previous year. The largest importer of US scrap during the month was Turkey. The imports of US scrap by the country increased sharply by 56.7% year-on-year to 519,000 tons, when matched with the exports of 331,000 tons during Mat last year.

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).