Russian Scrap Shipments Declined 29% During Jan-May

By Paul Ploumis

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The official statistics released by the Russian Federal Customs Service suggests huge downfall in scrap exports by the country during the month of May this year. The combined exports of scrap by the country during the first five months of the year too were down significantly upon comparison with similar period the year before.

The Russian scrap exports totaled 393,759 metric tons in May 2017. The exports recorded decline of over 9% when matched with the previous month. The Russian scrap exports had totaled 434,047 tons in April this year. When compared with the same month last year, the country’s scrap exports were down sharply by 25.3%. The Russian scrap exports recorded first decline in three months, data said.

The largest export destination of Russian scrap in May this year was Turkey. The imports by Turkey totaled 159,532 tons during the month. The Turkish scrap imports from Russia declined marginally when matched with imports of 166,310 tons in April. The second largest export destination of Russian scrap was Belarus with 120,356 tons. South Korea imported 322,536 tons of scrap from Russia in May. The other major markets of Russian scrap were Spain (30,206 tons), Greece (5,268 tons), France (4,300 tons) and the Netherlands (2,527 tons).

The cumulative scrap exports during the initial five-month period of 2017 totaled 1.605 million tons. The export quantity dropped sharply by 29% when matched with the corresponding five-month period in 2016. The Russian scrap exports had totaled 2.259 million tons during Jan-May ’16. The monthly scrap exports averaged at 321,000 tons and the yearly exports for 2017 are projected to surpass 3.85 million tons.

Turkey continued to be the largest importer of Russian scrap, importing 575,382 tons during Jan-May ’17. The country accounted for 35.8% share of total Russian exports during this period. However, the imports by Turkey has almost halved when compared with the previous year. The Turkish scrap imports from Russia had totaled 1.137 million tons in Jan-May ’16, accounting for 50.3% share. The imports by Turkey recorded 49.4% decline over the previous year.

The second largest importer was Belarus with 486,073 tons, constituting 30.3% share of total Russian exports. South Korea accounted for nearly one-fifth share, importing 322,536 tons of scrap from Russia. The other key import destinations were Spain (92,859 tons), the Netherlands (23,462 tons), Greece (19,138 tons), Germany (15,366 tons) and Taiwan (13,000 tons).

The exports to India recoded sharpest decline during the five-month period over the previous year, falling by 84.7% from 6,127 tons in 2016 to 937 tons in 2017. France recorded the biggest jump in imports during this period. The imports by France surged higher by 424% from 2,023 tons in Jan-May ’16 to 10,601 tons this year.