By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): According to the Copper and Brass Fabricators Council (CBFC), the imports of brass mill products by the US during the month of September this year have dropped significantly when matched with the previous year. On the other hand, exports registered modest rise year-on-year during the month.

September ’16 Imports

According to data, the US imports of brass mill products during September this year totaled 32.328 million lb, significantly down by nearly 15% when compared with 37.818 million lb imports registered during September 2015.

The main exporter of brass mill products to the US during September was Germany. The total imports from Germany during the month totaled 8.604 million lb. Mexico followed Germany with total exports to US amounting to 3.769 million lb. In third place was Canada. The brass mill products imports by the US from Canada totaled 3.617 million lb during the month. The other key exporters were South Korea (2.554 million lb) and Vietnam (2.243 million lb).

Imports by Product Type

Imports of all sheet, strip, plate and foil products totaled 12.066 million lb in September. All pipe and tube products imports totaled 11.750 million lb. Imports of all profiles, rods and bars totaled 5.733 million lb. Copper alloy wire imports totaled 2.780 million lb.

September ’16 Exports

In accordance with the data released by the CBFC, the US exports of brass mill products totaled 20.504 million lb in September this year, significantly up by nearly 8.4% when matched with the exports of 18.921 million lb during September 2015.

The key export destination for US brass mill products during September ’16 was Mexico. The exports to Mexico totaled 8.270 million lb. The other key importers of US brass mill products during the month were Canada (5.271 million lb), Peru (1.356 million lb), China (894,735 lb) and Germany (515,788 lb).

Exports by Product Type

Exports of all sheet, strip, plate and foil products totaled 9.718 million lb in September this year. All pipe and tube products exports totaled 3.366 million lb. Exports of all profiles, rods and bars totaled 5.965 million lb. Copper alloy wire exports totaled 1.455 million lb.

Year-to-date Imports/Exports

For the first nine months of the year, US imported 346.131 million lb of brass mill products. This is 9.1% lower when compared with the imports of 380.939 million lb in the same year-ago period. Exports during the initial nine months of 2016 totaled 181.129 million lb, compared with 188.507 million lb in the same 2015 period, a decline of nearly 4%.

The CBFC noted that the export data for three months-February, March and April are likely to contain approximately 47.644 million pounds of products wrongly classified as copper rod and bar by importers/brokers. The YTD export figure mentioned here is after deducting this amount. An inquiry has been initiated into the matter so as to remove this error from the Year-To-Date data at the earliest.

The table below provides the details of imports of brass mill products during the initial nine months of the current year.

The details of exports of brass mill products during January to September this year are as follows:-

 About CBFC

The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council is a non-profit membership trade association open to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the fabrication or production in the United States of products made, in whole or in part, from copper or copper alloys. 

Generally, the member companies are engaged in the production of copper and copper alloy sheet and strip, rod and bar, plumbing tubing, OEM or air-conditioning tubing, wire, extrusions, shapes and profiles, forgings, and fittings.  These products are used chiefly in the automotive, construction, and electrical/electronic industries. 

There are currently nineteen member companies who produce over 80% of all copper and brass mill products produced in the United States.