US Scrap Exports Down 40.5%

Year to date scrap exports through February are down by 40.5 percent from the same period last year. Total YTD was 2,034,000 metric tonnes a decline of 1,387,000 tonnes. Figure 1 shows that all major purchasing nations were down on a three month moving average basis. Turkey and China contributed the most to the YTD tonnage decline, down by 725,000 and 278,000 tonnes respectively. Taiwan was down by 170,000 tonnes and India by 111,000 tonnes.

The only significant nations to increase their purchases, and they are not shown on Figure 1 because historically they don’t rate, were Japan and Malaysia. Exports to the Far East in total were down by 17.2 percent YTD through February.